ICON: R. SUBRAMANIAM
Story and pictures by
Tony Mariadass
Listening to Ramasamy
Subramaniam how as an estate boy who took up athletics at a late age, trained
on his own as a schoolboy athlete to an Olympian in the 60s, one wonders what
has gone wrong for Malaysian athletics in this modern age.
The lanky and fit looking
Subra, as he is affectionately known, who turns 76 on Oct 24, too was puzzled
how after 50 years later, his running times has not been bettered as it should
have been.
The former Prisons
director, said that it was either that the coaches were not good enough to
bring the best out of the athletes, or the athletes do not have what it takes
to become a champion.
“Maybe some of the
coaches have been around too long and we need fresh blood. But at the end of
the day, I put the blame solely on the athletes,” said Subra a teetotaller and
who does not smoke.
“With so much advancement
in terms of facilities, sports science, nutrition and benefits for athletes
have these days, I am puzzled at the state of the athletics these days,” said
Subra who ran the 800m and 1,500m and occasionally the 5,000m.
His personal best of 800m
is 1.49.5 clocked at the 1966 Asian Games, while his 1,500m best time was
3.48.0 clocked at the 1967 Sea Games in KL. The current national record for
800m is held by B. Rajkumar clocked at the Asian Track and Field championship
in Jakarta in 1985 in a time of 1.47.37, while the 1,500m record – 3.45.70 - is
held by V. Muthiah clocked in 2007.
Subra is a self-coached
athlete who took up athletics at the late age of 18 when he was pushed to the
athletics by chance.
“I was a footballer
playing in the wings for a local club Puchong Indians. I was fast and it was in
1957 when there was sports meet being organised in Puchong in conjunction of
Merdeka Day that some friends of mine encouraged me to take part as I was
fast,” recalled Subra the third son in a family of six.
“I ran in the 100m, 200m
and 400m and won all with ease. I was the new kid on the block and beat some
veterans.
“Suddenly I fell in love
with athletics and at first was playing football too. But my interest in
athletics was overwhelming and decided to give up football.
“I started to train
diligently running around the estates in Puchong and the mining area. I would
go to the library in town to read up books on athletics and drew up my own
training programme. Without any guidance it was a trial and error method as
some of the training used in Europe and top athletes was not suitable for me.
“Besides running weaving
in between rubber trees, I also drew lines, stuck stubs as markers on the sands
of the mining pool to make tracks and ran.”
Subra then started
running in schools meet as he attended a private school – Kishen Lal School –
and Selangor.
In the Malayan Combined
Schools meet in Penang in1959, he won both the one-mile and half-mile races.
He dropped out of school
because of financial difficulties but continued running at the Selangor AAA
meet in the 800m and 1,500m and winning them.
It was at the national
meet in 1960 in Malacca that his future was charted.
Seeing Subra excelling
for Selangor in the meet, the Malacca Prisons director, a Mr Ashe, spotted Rama
and sent two officer to meet him.
“They offered me to join
the Prisons which had an athletics team. I wanted to think over, but Mr Ashe
wanted and immediate answer. He met me and told me to accept and he will take
of me,” said Subra who now lives in Kajang.
“My family were not keen
to see me leave for Malacca but after much thought and the fact that I could
continue to excel in athletics, I decided to join them as a warder.”
The rest is history as Subra not only
rose rank and file with the Prisons which saw him serve in Malacca Prison and
Henry Gurney School, Taiping detention camp and Kajang, but also excelled in
athletics.
His feat in athletics saw him represent
the nation at the 1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico Olympics, 1962 Perth and 1968 Kingston,
Jamaica Commonwealth Games, 1962 Indonesia and 1968 Bangkok Asian Games and
five Sea Games – 1961, 1965, 1967, 1969 and 1971.
His highlights include winning seven gold and
four silver medals from the five Sea Games including the famous victory over
star middle distance champion then Burma’s Jimmy Crampton over the 800m at the
1971 Games in KL and then going on to win the 5,000m, running the race less the
half an hour after his 800m race.
His double silver medallist at the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok
in the 800m and 1500m is another milestone in his athletics career.
“The double silver in Bangkok was my most memorable moment and also
disappointing. Memorable because I won two silver medals. Disappointed because
I was also close winning the 800 gold medal but was pipped to the tape by
India’s Bhogeswara Baruah,” said Subra who clocked 1.49.5 to Baruah’s 1.49.4.
Subra coming from a generation where Malaysia’s cream of
athletes were produced in the likes of Tan Sri Dr M. Jegathesan, Datuk Nashatar
Singh, Datuk M. Rajamani, Dilbagh Singh, G. Rajalingam, T. Krishnan and Karu
Selvaratnam to name a few, may be a forgotten name or overshadowed by the
achievements of other athletes, but his achievements is something which will
stand in the athletics annals forever.
Subra did not have the honour of being named the Sportsman of
the Year as the awards was only started in 1966 and it went deservingly to
Jegathesan. However, Subra can seek consolation that in 1965 the sports writers
named him as the Sportsman of the Year despite strong performances by
Jegathesan, Nashatar and Rajamani.
Subra who took an early retirement at the age of 53 when he was
about to be transferred to Penang because of his daughter, Subathira’s
education, now spends much of his time with his wife Logambal and only
granddaughter, six-year-old Thannannee.
When Subra quit running in 1975 – after 18 years - after
competing in the national meet, he was coaching with Malacca AAA for three
years and was also involved in coaching middle distance runners for the 1975
and 1977 Sea Games. He was the vice-president of Kajang AAA for a while when he
moved of Kajang, but now just is a silent observer of athletics.
“I really hope that athletics will return and be even better
than in the past, but it just keeps sliding further down,” said Subra with a
tinge of sadness.
“I remember the days when I went for the Olympics and only
received a daily ‘dhobi’ (laundry) allowance of five ringgit. But we had set
personal achievable goals and worked hard to achieve it not expecting any
remunerations.
“My only rewards and satisfaction from my athletics career are
all these medals and trophies,” said Subra who had diligently kept all medals,
trophies, newspaper cuttings and photos all neatly in albums and his trophy
cabinet.
Subra is indeed a rare breed of athletes Malaysia produced which
the younger generation may never see another born or developed.
Sad but that is the truth and we can only thank Subra and his
contemporaries for the golden and wonderful memories.
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