“Turn challenges into success” – The Pocket Rocketman

“Transform the challenges into positivity and success to be a better version of yourself.”

That was the adage of a reputable national athlete, YBHG Dato’ Mohd Azizulhasni Awang, or famously known as The Pocket Rocketman, who cannot settle for a small feat in whatever he is doing.

Not to mention his outstanding sprint record, one of the major challenges that the Terengganu-born sports star has turned into his own success is his limited proficiency in speaking English.

Parallel to his career journey narrative of ‘zero to hero’, the national track cycling ace has taken great effort to enhance his fluency in the foreign language since the beginning of his career.

“I come from Dungun, Terengganu, whereby conversing in English is uncommon. Hence, developing my English proficiency at that time took a great deal of commitment.

“Since the beginning of my school years, I have developed interests in that language as it is one of the essential skills and subjects required in pursuit of my first dream of becoming a doctor.

“To make a long story short, when I first landed in Melbourne, Australia in 2007, I was baffled because the locals actually speak different accents and slang of English and it had got me in a complex situation to communicate with them for quite a while,” said YBHG Dato’ Mohd Azizulhasni during a virtual webinar entitled ‘Rising in Unity’ in conjunction with Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) Language Olympiad 2021.

A diminutive world-class athlete, YBHG Dato’ Mohd Azizulhasni shook everyone with his glory in winning a keirin bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the unforgettable mishap where a piece of wood ‘skewered’ his calf during a track cycling.

The latest, he has added a silver medal to his bronze after finishing second in the men’s keirin at the Tokyo Olympic 2020.

Meanwhile, this year’s UniKL Language Olympiad is hosted by UniKL Royal College of Medicine Perak (UniKL RCMP) in collaboration with UniKL Centre for Student Development.

It involves the participation of students from all 12 UniKL campuses in six categories of competition namely Product Review Video, Public Service Advertisement, Rising in Unity Photography, Movie Review Essay, UniKL Battle of the Voice Singing Competition, and Impromptu Speech Live.

Last year, UniKL Malaysian Institute of Information Technology (UniKL MIIT) was nominated as overall champions in the seventh edition of the UniKL Language Olympiad 2020 “Stronger Together” competition.