Athlete Who Tweeted About Scholarship Issue Has Now Received UPM's Offer To Do Medicine
National hockey athlete Kirandeep Kaur went viral earlier this month when she shared her disappointment after her entry application to a private university was rejected despite achieving outstanding results in SPM and matriculation.
By Sadho Ram — 26 Sep 2022, 11:07 AM — Updated about 2 years ago
Over the weekend, national women's hockey player Kirandeep Kaur received an offer to do medicine at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
The 19-year-old received the offer on Saturday, 24 September, reported New Straits Times.
Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) deputy president Professor Datuk Dr Shamala Subramaniam was the first to congratulate Kirandeep, who recently spoke up about her struggles.
"She is the first national female hockey player to receive an offer to do medicine from a local university. This is a proud moment for Kirandeep and the MHC," Shamala was quoted as saying.
Kirandeep scored 9As in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations last year.
She also obtained a CGPA of 3.88 in her matriculation.
According to a local hockey information page, the offer came after Kirandeep earned her team a bronze medal at the 2022 Sukma Games
"Malaysian Tigress player Kiran received the good news of continuing her higher education in Medical degree at UPM after just earning her team a bronze medal at SUKMA 2022," the page stated.
Shamala, who is the Professor of Computer Science at UPM, hopes to see more hockey players follow in Kirandeep's footsteps
"All her hard work, in training and national team duties as well as studies, has paid off well. We wish her all the best in her studies," New Straits Times quoted her as saying yesterday, 25 September.
SAYS has reached out to Kirandeep to check if she will be accepting the offer.
Kuala Lumpur-born Kirandeep is a midfielder-cum-forward
When she was 15 years old, the lanky lass became the youngest hockey player in the country to be selected for the national women's team to play at the Asian Games.
She made her international debut at the World Series in Singapore in 2018.
While Kirandeep was a shy and reserved player during the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, she came out of her shell and scored Malaysia’s first goal after two matches in a Test Series against India in 2019.
Her performance in the Five-Test Series also inspired a spirited comeback which took Malaysia from 0-2 down to 4-2 up before finally holding mighty India to a 4-4 draw, reported New Straits Times.
For the record, India was ranked World No 9, while Malaysia was ranked World No 22.
Kirandeep Kaur (left, in white) during the Five-Test Series against India at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Image via Mahzir Mat Isa/New Straits Times