National sprinter Shanti Pereira was named the first recipient of the SMU's Yip Pin Xiu Scholarship yesterday. The new bond-free bursary, launched last December, is named after Paralympic champion and SMU School of Social Sciences undergraduate Yip Pin Xiu and is for local elite athletes. It offers full waiver of tuition fees for four years and an allowance of up to $12,000 which can be used for a range of programmes, including overseas exchange courses.

SMU Provost Professor Lily Kong, who hosted the award reception on Tuesday (Mar 28), announced that Shanti will be studying accountancy at SMU starting from August this year. Shanti said that she is excited and honoured to receive a scholarship named after Pin Xiu, adding that she would like to embody the kind of spirit and (emulate her), who is both a good student and an athlete. Pin Xiu, who won two gold medals at last year's Paralympic Games, noted that the most important thing for an athlete is to balance studies and sports as both are equally important.