22 March 2015
Maybank’s “smashing” badminton event
Maybank donates RM 1 million for Hospital Selayang’s Liver Transplant Centre in conjunction with “Smash and Donate” charity event
March 22, 2015 – Well-known celebrities, corporate executives as well as junior and former national badminton players were made to sweat it out on the courts in Kuala Lumpur today as Maybank hosted “Smash and Donate”, a charity event held in conjunction with the upcoming Maybank Malaysia Open (MMO) Badminton 2015.
The “Smash and Donate” event, which is in its second year, was organised by Maybank Foundation to raise awareness of the upcoming MMO, promote healthy living as well as raise funds for Hospital Selayang’s Liver Transplant Centre.
Some of the nation’s biggest celebrities such as Neelofa, Amy Search, Ning Baizura, Fara Fauzana, Adi Putra and Lee Hansen were invited to join corporate executives and each were paired with a national junior or former national badminton player in the single elimination mini tournament.
Among the corporate executives were Datuk Abdul Farid Alias, Group President & CEO of Maybank, Kamaludin Ahmad, CEO Maybank Ageas Holdings Bhd, Michael Foong, Group Chief Strategy Officer, Nora Manaf, Group Chief Human Capital Officer, Maybank and Seelan Paul, Chief Executive Officer of Media Prima Radio Networks/Chief Operating Officer for Media Prima Television Networks. Among Malaysia’s junior badminton champions and former champions were Hafiz Hashim, Kwan Yoke Meng, Lee Wan Wah and Zakry Latif.
On-looking spectators had a treat as they were able to witness their favourite personalities display their badminton skills and compete against each other. It was one of the main attractions of the day as spectators thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of the biggest names in show business display their competitive spirit.
The “Smash and Donate” event also saw the public invited to participate in a ‘Target Smash’ game where they could contribute a minimum of RM2 for a hit. All proceeds collected were channelled to support the Hospital Selayang Liver Transplant Centre.
Maybank Foundation also took the opportunity to present a donation of RM 1 million to Hospital Selayang’s Liver Transplant Centre as part of its continued commitment to help make affordable treatment and liver transplants available to patients with liver diseases.
Maybank had helped establish the Liver Transplant Centre since 2002 with an initial grant of RM 5 million and has been providing financial assistance to the centre on a continuous basis to help ensure its sustainability. This initiative is one of the key corporate responsibility programmes under the area of healthy living and is in line with Maybank’s mission to Humanise Financial Services.
During the Smash & Donate event, Maybank also carried out a “Donate Second Hand Racquet Campaign” where the public could donate their old badminton racquets which would then be channelled to the less fortunate.
The MMO Badminton Open, which is one of only 5 Superseries Premier events of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) will be held at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil from 31 March to 5 April 2015. Maybank has been the title sponsor of this badminton tournament since 2012 which has attracted some of the best shuttlers in the world to Malaysian shores.
