KUALA LUMPUR: Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei landed a first for Malaysian badminton after becoming the first mixed doubles pair to win the National Sportsman and Sportswoman Awards for 2025 on Tuesday (May 19).
It is the second national award picked up by the duo in one week after being crowned Best Athletes for 2025 at the Sportswriters Association Malaysia-100PLUS Awards a few days ago.
Tang Jie and Ee Wei became the first Malaysian mixed doubles pairing to win gold at the World Championships in Paris, in addition to winning the Australian Open and finishing runners-up at the China Masters last year.
Tang Jie defeated national wushu athlete Si Shin Peng, silat exponent Mohd Khairi Abib Azhar, bowler Rafiq Ismail and bodybuilder Abdul Aziz Ahmad for the Sportsman award.
"I feel happy with this success, however the fight is not over. We have to focus on improving ourselves and aim to continue to make the country proud in the future," Tang Jie said.
Ee Wei held off wushu athletes Tan Cheong Min and Pang Pui Yee, lawn bowler Emma Firyana Saroji and national bowler Natasha Roslan to claim the Sportswoman award.
Mohd Yusof Hafizi Shaharuddin won the National Paralympic Sportsman award, beating national powerlifting champion Bonnie Bunyau Gustin and athletics icon Datuk Abdul Latif Romly.
The National Paralympic Sportswoman Award was won by Carmen Lim, beating Jariah Zakaria and Parameswary Kashinathan.
The winners of each category received a trophy and cash prize of RM20,000 from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
