Malaysia Defends Title for Fourth Straight Year in Ottawa International Dragon Boat Race

OTTAWA, June 26 (Bernama) -- The team ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’ defended their title for the fourth year in a row in the just-held Ottawa International Dragon Boat Race. Made up of staff and family members from the High Commission of Malaysia in Ottawa and Malaysian students in Canadian Universities, the team emerged champion in the Embassies and Foreign Missions category. Malaysian High Commissioner to Canada, Hayati Ismail said she was proud of their efforts and they had proven to be a formidable team in the annual international dragon boat event. "The team has shown enormous spirit and this reflects very positively on Malaysia," she said in a statement issued by the high commission, here Tuesday. The drummer, Syaza Hisham is a third year bio-technology student at Carleton University while the steerperson, Megat Mohd Syukri Shuib is a final year engineering student at the same University. One of the 20 peddlars in the team, final year Ottawa University student Suriani Dzulkifly said of the race: “It was very tiring, but all very worth it!” Team captain, Rozalah Hashim, second secretary at the High Commission, said this year’s team was very disciplined and performed extremely well in the spirit of '1Malaysia'. “The team’s commitment this year was certainly a big part of our success,” she said. The Ottawa Dragon Boat Race, held from June 22 to 24, is the largest Dragon Boat Festival in North America and attracted some 202 teams from across Canada and around the world this year. The team’s participation in the race was sponsored by Tourism Malaysia, Education Malaysia Ottawa and supported by the High Commission of Malaysia. -- BERNAMA