(May 23, 2008)

Canadian Champion Patrick Chan was selected the winner in the Arts/Sports category of the 2008 Asian of the Year

Patrick Chan with 1962 World Champion Donald Jackson

Awards. The awards ceremony was held at Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday.

The Award program was launched by AsiaNetwork during the Ottawa Asian Heritage Month in May, 2007. This year the Awards recognized the tremendous contributions made by Asian Canadians from across Canada in three distinctive categories: Business/Public Service, Volunteerism and Arts/Sports. Go to www.asianetwork.ca for more information about the AsiaNetwork and this year’s winners and finalists.

Patrick, 17, has really impressed the figure skating world in the last few years and is considered a rising star within the sport. Winning Junior Nationals in 2004, he has transitioned well into senior competition. Late in 2007, Chan won his first ISU Grand Prix event, the Trophée Eric Bompard, in Paris. Patrick trains with coaches Donald Laws and Ellen Burka out of the Granite Club in Toronto. He was crowned Canadian Men’s Champion at the 2008 BMO Canadian Figure Skating Championships in Vancouver on January 19, 2008, becoming the youngest skater to win the title less than a month after turning 17 years old.