ROSLINDA FINALLY BACK IN MALAYSIA

Ex-pole vault queen Roslinda finally back in Malaysia

By Tony Mariadass - May 30, 2020

Roslinda (second right) with her course mates from the DLV-International Coaching Academy at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz.

Former top athlete Roslinda Samsu returned to Malaysia yesterday after being stranded in Mainz, Germany.

After a year-long coaching course in the German city, she obtained an athletics coaching diploma from the DLV-International Coaching Academy at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz on May 15

Roslinda was supposed to come back on June 1 but her flight was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

The academy, on learning of her flight cancellation, helped Roslinda find an alternative flight on May 28 from Frankfurt.

Roslinda finally arrived at KLIA yesterday at 7.30pm, after leaving Mainz to Frankfurt by train to catch a KLM flight. She transited in Amsterdam and Bangkok.

The whole journey from Mainz to Kuala Lumpur took 22 hours.

Upon arrival, Roslinda had to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine and was taken to a hotel in Petaling Jaya.

"Never mind the quarantine, I am just glad to be back after a year away.

"Earlier I had doubts I could get home after my initial flight for June 1 was cancelled," said a relieved Roslinda after arriving at KLIA.

Roslinda, who turns 38 on June 9, is not disappointed that she will have to spend her birthday in quarantine.

"As much as I miss spending my birthday with my parents in Kuala Nerang (Kedah), I am just glad to be back on Malaysian soil.

"In any case, it will be a unique birthday in quarantine which I will remember forever," said Roslinda.

The former pole vaulter has soared high on paper too, emerging top student, together with Hakim Ibrahim from Azerbaijan.

Ten coaches from Cambodia, Myanmar, Mexico, Nigeria, Tanzania, Azerbaijan and Malaysia attended the year-long course.

Roslinda, who teaches physical education, civics and sports science at Pahang Sports School, is a four-time Sea Games gold medallist and the 2006 Asian Games silver medallist.

She looks forward to spending time with her parents and siblings (she is the fifth among five girls and three boys) after the quarantine.

"I am glad that everything has worked out well in the end, and above all having attained the diploma," said Roslinda who did the course in German.

Her study in Maniz was fully sponsored by the institute, and she had only pay for the airfare, which was sponsored by the National Sports Council.

Roslinda's diploma is equivalent to the B licence athletics coaching certificate in Germany and IAAF Level 2 certification.

"I learnt a great deal there and I am eager to impart the knowledge here," she said.

Roslinda, whose motto is Never Give Up, said: "Now that I am home, I can't wait to begin my next two goals: enhance grassroots development programmes for athletics and to help produce more women pole vaulters.

"There is a lot of paperwork on grassroots back home but not implemented to the best.

"I want to make a difference and ensure that grassroots development moves to top priority and a different level."

Roslinda, who competed in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, still holds the national record of 4.40m, set in Spain in 2006.

She won the bronze medal at the 2005 Asian Athletics championships in Incheon, South Koreas and gold at the 2007 championship in Amman, Jordan.

ROSLINDA BACK HOME FROM MAINZ

 

By Tony Mariadass

 

Former pole vault queen Roslinda Samsu returned home last night (Thursday), after earlier being stranded in Mainz, Germany.

 

She was attending a coaching course in Mainz for a year and successfully achieved an athletics coaching diploma at the DLV-International Coaching Academy at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz on May 15.

 

Roslinda was earlier supposed to fly back on June 1, but the flight was cancelled, because of the Covid 19 pandemic.

 

The Academy learning of her flight cancellation, helped her find an alternative flight and even managed to get her on an earlier available flight at the last minute, to fly out late night on May 28 from Frankfurt.

 

Roslinda arrived in KLIA Thursday night at 7.30pm, after leaving Mainz to Frankfurt by train to catch her KLM flight, which transited in Amsterdam and Bangkok. Her total journey from Mainz to Kuala Lumpur took her 22 hours.

 

However, upon arrival, Roslinda had to undergo the mandatory 14 days quarantine and was whizzed to a quarantine hotel in Petaling Jaya.

 

“Never mind the quarantine. I am just glad to be back home after a year and after earlier having doubts of getting a flight back home, when my initial flight for June 1, was cancelled,” said a relived Roslinda after arriving in KLIA.

 

Roslinda who turns 38 on June 9, was also not perturbed that she had to spend her birthday in quarantine.

 

“As much I will miss spending my birthday with my parents in Kuala Nerang (Kedah), I am just glad to be back on Malaysian soil. In any case, it will be a unique birthday in quarantine which I will remember forever,” said Roslina who received her diploma on May 15 from the Academy, where she emerged the top student, together with another from Azerbaijan (Hakim Ibrahim).

 

Ten coaches from Cambodia, Myanmar, Mexico, Nigeria, Tanzania, Azerbaijan and Malaysia attended the year long course.

 

The Pahang Sports School teacher who teaches physical education, civics and sports science, was four-time SEA games gold medallist and 2006 Asian Games silver medallist, said she was looking forward to spending time with her parents and siblings (she comes from a family of eight and is the fifth among five girls and three boys) after the quarantine.

 

“I am glad that everything has worked out well in the end and above all having attained the diploma,” said Roslinda who did the course in German.

 

The course in Maniz was fully sponsored by the Institute and she had only pay for the airfare, which was paid by the National Sports Council.

 

The diploma Roslinda attained is equivalent to the B licence athletics coaching certificate in Germany and IAAF Level 2 certification.

 

“I learnt a great deal there and eager impart the knowledge here,” said Roslinda.

 

Roslinda whose motto is Never Give Up, said she set a goal and just strived for it to achieve their diploma.

 

“Now that I am home, I can’t wait to begin my next two goals – enhance the grassroots development programme for athletics and to help produce more women pole vaulters.

 

“There is a lot of paperwork on grassroots back home but not implemented to the best. I want to make a difference and ensure that grassroots development moves to top priority and a different level,” said Roslinda who was spotted by her school teacher coach Man Sahar.

 

Roslinda still holds the national record of 4.40m (her personal best) which she set in Spain in 2006 (24 years ago).

Roslinda had won the bronze medal at the2005 Asian Athletics championship in Incheon, South Koreas and captured the gold medal at the 2007 championship in Amman, Jordon.

Roslinda is also an Olympian having competed at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Ends.

Cubinar family packs a punch

Published on Saturday 30th August - The Malay Mail

By TONY MARIADASS

RICHARD Donald Cubinar was challenged to a fight by a youngster in a busy part of Kuala Lumpur. Undaunted, it took him just two punches to floor the youth.

No, Richard was not a street fighter nor a gangster. He was a professional boxer in his heyday.

It all happened one fine evening when Richard, now 72, had accidentally bumped into the youth, who put down some papers he was carrying and got into position to hit him.

“Before he could get me, I threw one punch at his stomach and another on his shoulder and immediately held him, because otherwise he would have fallen," recalled Richard.

“I sat him down, fanned him for a while, said goodbye and left,” said Richard, whose altercation with the youth drew a crowd.

“The people were surprised that an old man had fl oored the young man with just two punches."

Origin

Richard came from a family of boxers which started with his grandfather.

Of Filipino origin, Richard’s grandfather emigrated to Malaya and passed on his boxing passion to Richard’s father — Eleno Laura Cubinar.

Eleno, whose boxing name was Kid Cabanella, was a Perak state and national champion in the 40s.

He boxed for 23 years with other greats like Tiger Aman, Battling Sima, Little Abayan, Golden Boy and Bautista.

Eleno had three brothers — Kid Pancho, Baby Garcia and Little Pancho — who were boxers, too.

So it was no surprise that Richard took up boxing to keep the family tradition alive.

Richard reflects on his fights in the 40's with the posters he has kept for sentimental reasons

Tradition

“My father got me into boxing at a very young age. At seven, I was already training with my father during his training sessions in Kuala Kangsar. He would ask me to throw punches at him and taught me the fi ner points of boxing,” said Richard, who boxed under the name Baby Cabanella.

“I had a brother who was a year and half older than me and he boxed under the name Little Cabanella,” said Richard, who had seven brothers and six sisters.

First fight

“I was thrown into the ring for my first professional boxing match at the age of 11. It was a special attraction after my father's bout. There were six main fights that day and mine was the special seventh, where I fought my older brother (Little Cabanella).”

The fight, held at Jubilee Park in Ipoh on Dec 5, 1953, was called Great Boxing Contest in aid of Poppy Day Fund. Tickets were sold at $1, $2 and $3. It was promoted by a certain V.P. Krishnasamy.

“The fight over three one-minute rounds ended in a draw. But that was the beginning of my (boxing) career which lasted over 20 years.”

Richard with his father (seated) and brother.

Professional boxing

Richard said that boxing in those days was very popular and there were many promoters who held events regularly in Ipoh, Penang and Kuala Lumpur’s then famous Bukit Bintang Park (BB Park).

“Among the promoters were the late Abdul Razak Shaik Mohd, the husband of Maria Menando.

“We also boxed regularly in Singapore and Medan.

“Prize money for winners was about $200 and that was big money then,” said Richard, who fought in the featherweight category and later, bantamweight.

“It was passion for the sport that kept us going and we trained very hard because competition was stiff.”

Biggest purse

Richard’s biggest win was $1,500 in a competition in Medan in 1976.

“It was in this competition that I had to box ‘dirty’ after Indonesian opponent Ngadimin had executed an illegal punch on my face, which left me with a deep cut just above the eye," he said.

“The doctor, after examining me, wanted to stop the fight, but I insisted that I could carry on after using ‘baby talcum powder’ to stop the bleeding.

“I went in and executed an illegal punch which broke his arm and I won the fight.”

Asked if the referee had spotted his illegal tactic, he said: “All the boxers have illegal tactics and use it when necessary but it is difficult for the referees to spot it,” said Richard with a cheeky smile.

Richard said that his best year was 1967 when he had 12 wins, which coincidentally was also the year in which he ended his career spanning 1953 to 1976.

Army and Police

At the tail-end of Richard's boxing career, he had already joined the army where he served for six years before joining the Police force in 1977.

He was in the police for 15 years till he opted for retirement in 1992.

During his time with the police, he was the boxing coach for the Police team and was also the national coach for the 1977 Sea Games.

“Many national boxers had gone through me, but it is sad that over the years the boxers in the country have gone weak.

“Many of them do not have the quality because of poor tactics and not being strong.

“Besides, boxing is not popular these days. In my time, we had boxing competitions almost every month all over the country.”

Richard (left) in one of his fights in the 50's.

Survival

Richard eventually had to quit boxing and the police because he had a family and the money he earned was not enough.

"I had to quit the force to earn more money and manage my family. I became a bodyguard for several businessmen,” said Richard, who is still working to earn some pocket money. “I work as a security guard because I cannot sit still at home."

A montage Richard in training.

Broken link

As much as Richard would have loved to maintain his family tradition in boxing, it has stopped with him

“I have asked my three sons (he also has two daughters) to pick up boxing, but they are not keen. “My second son Kenny is keen, but cannot find the time. I believe he would have made a fine boxer and kept the family tradition alive.

“I am proud of my family history in boxing and my father’s achievements but I could not find the time to learn from my father,” said Kenny.

Indeed, it's sad such a rich boxing history of three generations would come to an end after Richard.

Richard and the Cubinar family may be of Filipino origin, but being Malaysian-born, they have certainly given Malaysian boxing many memorable moments and a history for our admiration.