Swimmer Hagino and squash star David in shortlist for Asian Games MVP award

INCHEON — Eight athletes, including Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino, Chinese gymnast Yao Jinnan and Malaysian squash star Nicol David, have been nominated for the Samsung Most Valuable Player (MVP), the award for the top athlete of the 17th Asian Games in Incheon.

The award is to be handed out on Oct 4 when the two-week long Games concludes with the closing ceremony.

The nominees are:

Nam Hyun-hee (South Korea)

Fencing – gold medal in women’s foil, four consecutive Asiad gold in team event from 2002 to 2014

Yao Jinnan (China)

Gymnastics – four gold medals (women’s team, individual all-around, uneven bars, floor exercise)

Kosuke Hagino (Japan)

Swimming – four gold medals (men’s 200m IM, 400m IM, 4x200m relay, 200m freestyle), one silver (400m freestyle), two bronze (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke), Asian record (200m IM)

Peachan Suriyan (Thailand)

Sepak Takraw – one men’s team gold, five consecutive Asiad team gold from 1998 to 2014

Cao Yifei (China)

Shooting – three gold (men’s 50m rifle three positions individual and team, 10m air rifle team), silver (10m air rifle)

Nicol David (Malaysia)

Squash – two gold (team and women’s singles), three consecutive Asiad singles gold from 2006 to 2014

Kim Unguk (North Korea)

Weightlifting – one gold (men’s 62kg), two world record (62kg total and snatch)

Kim Jaebum (South Korea)

Judo – two gold (men’s -81kg individual and team), two consecutive Asian Games individual gold (2010, 2014)