Exclusive by Tony Mariadass in Dublin, Ireland
Solo does it solo for Arul
There is an age-old saying ‘Behind Every Great Man Is A Great Woman’ and it cannot better describe national hockey coach Anthoni Arul Selvaraj’s wife, former national athlete, Soloseeni Krishnan.
This expression originated sometime in the first half of the 1900s. People use it to try to give recognition to the wives or mothers of successful men. This is because the women often helped the men in their lives a lot, but their work went unrecognised.
Arul, named the ‘Coach of the Year’ on Sunday, the 49-year-old former national player, who had set up his home in Dublin, Ireland 15 years ago, indeed owes a great deal to Solo, as his wife is affectionately known, as he uprooted himself from Dublin as a hockey coach to a couple of countries before landing back in Malaysia.
Solo, when I met her and her eldest daughter Tharine in Dublin last week, where I was a technical official for the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) for their Women’s Softball World Cup Group Stage Group A in Ireland, this is what she had to say about Arul being away from home: “Since 2012 August, up to now, he has been in and out of the country.
“He came back home for good in 2019 September but unfortunately early 2020 the Covid-19 lockdown happened, and he lost his income. Fortunately he got this offer as head coach for men’s team in Malaysia, and he grabbed the opportunity. Otherwise he would have jobless until 2021, when match only over here when hockey resumed and other business as well up, running as usual.”
Solo said it was a tough decision for her to allow Arul to take up the offer in Malaysia, as she had to manage the three girls – Tharine, Erin and Deepa – all by herself and bring them up to the best of her ability and Arul’s strict demands how the girls should be brought up.
“Arul is a humble and simple man, but a disciplinarian with great values towards life. He wanted to bring the girls up that way,” said the former athlete whose pet event was 800m.
Solo loves the quote: Life is a balance between holding on and letting go – Rumi-, and has given her best to balance well and holding on.
“I think I have managed well and been supportive of Arul, and glad that I played my role, although it was difficult at the start,” said Solo who has competed in the 1988 Commonwealth Games in KL, the Chiangmai (1995) and Jakarta (1997) Sea Games in 800m and 4 X 400 quartet.
But it was hockey which was her first love and represented Negri Sembilan, her home town, where she led a simple life as an estate girl at the Kirby Estate, where her parents worked (father as a carpenter and mother as a rubber tapper).
The ninth of ten children, Solo used to help her mother during her rubber tapping rounds.
“Being brought up in a poor family, where values of life was utmost important from my parents, helped me a great deal in bringing up my children.
“Arul has thought the children to always be humble, respect everyone and never value life with material things or money.
“Here daily we past churches, temples and even mosques and he has thought the children, always to take bow when we pass, as a mark of respect.”
Having met Tharine twice – once when he came back with Arul for a short vacation and in Dublin last week, indeed Arul and Solo have raised a respectful and warm person, who was a delight to be with.
Arul’s two other children Erin and Deepa, are currently on a short break with him here and Solo will be here next month for prayers for her late mother who passed away recently but was unable to attend the funeral.
The next question to her was that with a sporting genes parents, if any of the daughters were into sports.
“All are into sports in school, but except for Erin, the others just took it was a recreational sports,” said Solo who also represented Negri Sembilan in hockey at Sukma and inter-state.
“Erin is into athletics and I train her personally, but athletics is not big here and hardly gets any big competition. If she keeps up her interest, then maybe we have to look into other opportunities to pursue her athletics career.
Solo’s involvement with athletics was because she took it as a challenge to represent the nation after she was dropped as a 17-year-old for the national women’s hockey team for the Singapore 1993 Sea Games.
“I was upset, although I was only 17, felt that I was good to make the squad and was unjustly dropped. It was then I quit hockey and moved on to athletics,” said Solo with a tinge of sadness but full of pride and joy that he took the challenge and managed to represent the nation in another sport – athletics.
“I took the next 18 months seriously and qualified as an athlete for the 1995 Chiangmai Sea Games.
“I am a fighter and work hard to achieve what I set out to do. And I suppose it is these traits that help me manage the home here in Dublin, although Arul was not around.
“Hockey was my passion and wanted to represent the nation to follow the footsteps of my older late sister (Deviswarry) by five years to me, who represented the national women’s hockey team at the 1989 and 1991 Sea Games and Asian Games.”
Deviswarry, a mother of three, passed on at the age of 49 after short illness.
“Devi was in the limelight in hockey as a school girl when the Kirby School won the Negri Sembilan State championship.
“Naturally, I wanted to follow her footsteps and when it did not happen, I was determined to became a national athlete in a different sports.”
Solo said she was asked to switch to athletics as early as her schooldays when she trained with her King George V School hockey team and the late Negri and later national athletics coach, JV Jayan spotted her, when he had athletic training at the school field after her hockey training.
“Coach Jayan asked me many times to switch to athletics as he said he saw the potential in me. But was so focused on hockey, that I declined the offer.
“But after being dropped for the national hockey team in 1993, I decided it was athletics for me and took it up seriously to full fill me dream to become a national athlete.”
Solo said besides Jayan he had to thank many former athletes and coaches who made her athletics career take off.
“Besides recommending me for a job with Maybank, which was big into athletics at that time, many coaches groomed me too.
“Among them include Sitheravellu Sathasivam, Stanley Sreedheran, Murugiah, Nur Herman Majid,Harun Rashid, late Mohd Hanifah Nasir, R. Jeganathan to name a few.
“At the national level, the late Pavel Litovvhenko (passed away 2010) guided me a great deal, while wife, Liliya (Russian Olympian middle-distance runner who was the silver medalist in the 800m at the 1992 Olympics) who was in Malaysia with her husband, personally helped me to become a better athlete.
“I am still in touch with her who is in Moscow coaching the tennis team.”
Solo’s personal best at the 800m was set in 1997 at the Chinese Taipei Open where she clocked 2.07.88 which was just off the current national record (2.07.44) set by Josephine Mary Singarayar at the 1986 at the Seoul Asian Games.
Other impressive records Solo achieved Negri Sembilan Sportswoman of the Year in 1997, Sportswomen national inter-bank in 1996, 1997 and 1998 and hold several records at the state meet championships till now.
Fellow athletes she used to train with include the likes of Nur Herman, Kenny Martin, Yusri Sijam, Azliy Izahar, Ratimalar, Mogan Rajoo and Vasu Subramaniam.
“So it has not been a bed of roses for me all along and have been brought up to fight hard for whatever I wanted to achieve even against the odds, and I am glad that I have come this far.
“Not bad for an estate girl now living in Dublin, married to a famous hockey coach and have three beautiful children uh,” asked Solo with a burst of laughter with her daughter giving her the looks.
Indeed, Solo has done well and can be proud of herself and when she celebrates her 50th birthday on Wednesday (July 26), she certainly can look back with her achievement with pride and joy.
Happy birthday Solo and Arul must surely be very proud and lucky to have you as his woman in his life.
No comments:
Post a Comment