Ex-
internationals
and ex-officios hold court
IT was a heartwarming week to witness ex-internationals and ex-officials actively involved in keeping the sports spirit alive.
I was in Alor Setar and Ipoh this week, and what I witnessed left a glow in me. I personally witnessed the dedication of these former athletes and officials.
My first stop was in Alor Setar last Saturday where I was invited by my former colleague J. Naidu who organised the reunion gathering and pre-Deepavali celebration on behalf of his athletics club – Garuda Athletics Club and Kedah Indian Sports Council.
Fifty-eight sports personalities of yesteryear – sportsmen and officials – attended the function which, besides being a pre-Deepavali gathering, was also a reunion of an event six years ago that Naidu organised too – honour veteran sports personalities of Kedah.
What was remarkable about the event was that everyone paid for the dinner, while Naidu managed ro secure some donations from well-wishers.
A surplus from the event, after subtracting the expenses, was donated to the Kedah Indian Sports Council, M. Uthaya Sanker the president.
Indeed, a noble deed. When there was little or no recognition of past sporting personalities, they organised their own gathering to reminisce about the good old days, meet up with old friends, and renew their comradeship.
Among those present and recognised at the dinner were the current Kedah AA secretary, S.Govindarajoo, former hockey official, Utam Singh, S.Krishnamurthy (Grandmaster of Taekwondo at the national level), those 65 above who attended – former Kedah HA secretary J. Ramadas, former Kedah AA secretary S Padamanathan, ex hockey international Ron Thiagaraja and former Kedah hockey goalkeeper D. Subramaniam.
Also present were ex Olympian hockey player M. Surenthiran and his brother, former national hockey player M Subramaniam, ex-national football player Victor Andrag who is Kedah M-League team assistant coach, and Datuk Papu Ignatius, former national middle-distance runner, and former national long-distance runner S. Balakrishnan and George Daniel were present.
Three Chinese – former Kedah soccer coach and ex-national soccer star Azraai Khor, former Kedah hockey goalkeeper Hong Chur Liang and current Kedah AA Vice President Loo Yook Khin were also present as invited guests.
Azraai, who speaks fluent Tamil, gave a speech in Tamil.
Then in Ipoh, for the Sultan Nazrin Shah and Tuanku Zara Cup international men’s and women’s indoor hockey tournament from Nov 6-11, it was delightful to see the Perak HA president Datuk Hj Mohd Sayuti Abd Samat, an ex-national goalkeeper, at the association.
The 65-year-old businessman and second-term president of PHA, is the first former national player to lead the PHA in its history.
To top it all off, Sayuti was conferred the Darjah Dato Paduka Mahkota Perak
( DPMP), which carries the title Dato’, on Saturday, November 5th) at Istana Iskandariah in Kuala Kangsar, Perak , by Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Azlan Muhibbnuddin Shah Al-Maghfur Lah, in conjunction with his 67 th birthday’s; It was awarded to a hockey player after more than 40 years since Datuk R. Yogeswaran and Datuk Poon Fook Loke were the first recipients.
Sayuti is a clear case of a player who rose through the ranks, and his humility and humbleness are his trademarks.
Many may mistake the PHA president, who is also the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) independent council member and recently appointed MHC coaching committee chairman, as another layman.
He is often seen walking around the Perak Stadium during tournaments, engaging with the fans, and being easily approachable.
This was again at the Sultan Nazrin Shah & Tuanku Zara Cup – Men’s & Women’s international indoor hockey tournament.
He is indeed a grassroots man, having come from the bottom.
His position as president and his conferred Datukship title has not changed him, as he is always friendly and down-to-earth.
He does not have any airs about himself and is always on the ground.
And that he invited several of his teammates to attend the event only underlined that he does not forget friends.
Among those who were present were K. Rajan, who has also been appointed to do development work in Perak, R. Ramakrishnan and Mohamad Hadi were all given the honour to present Man of the Match awards.
“I am just giving back to the game what it has given me,” said the Sungai Korok Parit, born Sayuti.
Sayuti played for the nation from 1977 to 1985.
Then, there was former national footballer and national and Perak coach, Datuk M. Karathu, who after his routine morning walk, came to the stadium to watch the Malaysian men’s and women’s teams play.
It was indeed a great gesture by Karathu to drop by and support another sport, although his presence went unnoticed by many.
If only we had more ex-sportsmen involved in the management of sports in the country, maybe we could see a vast improvement in the development and management of sports in general.
Congratulations to Sayuti for showing the way, and hopefully, more ex-sportsmen and women emulate him, and sports associations will give them an opportunity.
And finally, my week in Ipoh was made complete when I met up with former national athletes Josephine Mary and her husband Samson Vallabouy – the parents of Shereen Vallabouy, the US-based athlete – who won the 400m bronze medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Josephine and Samson were coaching athletes from Panthers Athletics Club at Perak Stadium on Saturday morning.
On weekdays, Josephine is coaching 8 Under-10 girls athletes under the Perak Sports Council athletics development program together with two other coaches – former national athlete and coach K. Jayabalan and Kalaiye Selvan – who handle a total of 85 athletes.
All three are key coaches of the Panther Athletics Club which has produced 18 SEA Games gold medalists, not counting the many silver and bronze medalists who have come from their club.
Dedicated and experienced coaches like them are what we need, especially in grassroots. Little wonder Perak has been doing well at the Malaysia Games (SUKMA).
And cap the week, on the eve of Deepavali, Jayabalan invited his athletes and friends to dinner at his house.
Truly Malaysian concept and it was delightful to see athletes and coaches of multi-racial ethnics miggle freely and enjoy the food and camaraderie.
Happy Deepavali from the staff of Apa Khabar.
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