By IANS,
Kuala Lumpur : Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has congratulated national hockey goalkeeper and ethnic Indian S. Kumar on being named Asia’s best player for 2010 – through a Twitter message.
Kumar is the first Malaysian to win the award.
Kumar, 32, who is from Tampin, Negeri Sembilan state, was presented the AHF (Asian Hockey Federation) President’s award Sunday.
Kumar, who took up the sport when he was 15, made his senior international debut at the 1999 Brunei SEA Games and now has 166 caps to his name. He dedicated his most recent award to his late father, The Star reported Tuesday.
Last year, Kumar participated in four tournaments.
He won the best goalkeeper award in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament and was named in the Asian All-Star team after the Guangzhou Asiad. He was also in the Malaysian team which won a five-nation tournament in France.
At the Guangzhou Asian Games, he played a pivotal role to help Malaysia win a silver medal for the first time in the Games.
Najib had invited Malaysians to send him questions over Twitter and Facebook Jan 12.
Najib, like his peer and former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, is known to use Twitter and Facebook to communicate.