By Ahmed Wafi Rashid
GOMBAK, 7 March 2015: Today marked the end of what was a memorable week in sports for IIUM students as the official closing ceremony took place with a crowd of excited spectators consisting of students cheering on their mahallah athletes. Students began to flood the Sayyidina Hamzah Stadium at around 8.00 p.m. before the VIPs of the night which included head of Sports Development centre, Mr. Roestam, Director of ISC, Dr. Basri and guest of honor, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Mizan Hitam. The event began with the IIUM police cadets who acted as flag bearers on the night marched on to the field bearing the flags of all 14 Malaysian states as well as the IIUM flag.
Once the flag bearers arrived, one by one the athlete contingents made their way on to the field and every time a contingent marched on to the field they were met with loud cheers and a great applause. Once all the athletes arrived, everyone stood at attention as the asma ul husna was played, followed by the national anthem and the IIUM song. All contingents were then seated on the field before spectators were taken by surprise by one of the many silat associations in IIUM as they performed a demonstration which included different weapons including machetes and bamboo sticks.
Dr. Mizan and Dr. Basri were then invited to deliver a speech in which they spoke of the spirit of sportsmanship and urged the athletes to not give up in their quest to become the best sportsperson. The closing ceremony was then officiated by releasing of a bird which symbolizes the motto of ISC 2015 which is ‘unleash the champion in you’.
There was a prize giving ceremony followed by the performance of IIUM percussion club.The performance was truly impeccable and the crowd were well entertained as you could tell by the loud cheering and applause.
For the female mahallahs, 3rd place belonged to mahallah Safiyyah! The 1st runner up went to mahallah Hafsa and the champion was mahallah Salahuddin al-Ayyubi! Once the winners were announced, the stallions lept to their feet and ran around the track in celebration!
For the male category, 3rd place went to mahallah Farouq, 2nd place to mahallah Bilal and the champions were the Zubair Stallions! Congratulations to all winners and see you on next ISC.