Royal battle

COMMENTARY  

Level Field

(H) Royal battle

The Malaysia Cup, which has a history that dates back to 1921 (when it was known as the Malaya Cup), has never failed to produce a special kind of magic, with the final more often than not bringing the nation to a standstill.

Tomorrow’s final is not going to be any different, but it could well be the ‘mother of all finals’ in the history of the competition.

If previously a final between Selangor and Singapore created a sort of mania (Selangor have emerged champions 32 times and runner-up 15 times, while Singapore have been crowned 24 times and lost 19 times), this time around, Pahang and Johor Darul Takzim could give new meaning to the match.

For starters, it is a royal battle as the Pahang president is Tengku Abdul Rahman Sultan Ahmad Shah, the Tengku Muda of Pahang, while Johor FA president is Tunku Mahkota Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.

Tengku Abdul Rahman has been at the helm of Pahang FA for eleven years now, while Tunku Ismail is into his second year at Johor FA.

Both men are very passionate about the game and have done immensely to uplift it in their respective states.

While Tengku Abdul Rahman took the long development route and worked with a small budget, Tunku Ismail went professional, buying calibre players, but not overlooking development for the future.

Tengku Abdul Rahman saw his dream come true when Pahang won the Malaysia Cup last year after a 21-year drought.

It had been an arduous road for Tengku Abdul Rahman with many ups and downs. Pahang had a good team in the 1990s, but from 2000 onwards, they went through a difficult patch. That was when Tengku Abdul Rahman took the helm of Pahang FA and decided that he should focus more on local players. The Shahzan Muda Football Club was formed (14 years ago) to develop young talent and give them exposure through the FAM Cup.

And Pahang have reaped the fruits of their labours. Today, the majority of the players from Shahzan have graduated to the senior team, although the youth team are still in existence and continue to produce players.

Pahang are a low-budget team — they spend about a quarter of the highest spenders in the league.

Tengku Abdul Rahman had said he does not want to wait another 21 years to win the Malaysia Cup and having qualified for their second Cup final is already an achievement. Pahang also have won the Charity Shield and FA Cup besides finishing fourth in the League this season.

They won the Super League title in 2004 and the FA Cup in 2006 too.

But retaining the Malaysia Cup will mean a great deal to Pahang and Tengku Abdul Rahman, as everyone knows that winning a trophy is easier than defending it.

It has certainly not been an easy ride for Pahang with Zainal Abidin Hassan having to take over as chief coach from Dollah Salleh.

In contrast, Johor DT over the two years have been going on a spending spree and through trial and error finally have a team that is firing on all cylinders.

Johor last won the Malaysia Cup in 1991, beating Selangor 3-1, and are in a similar position as Pahang last year. They will definitely be hungry for success and to make all that money spent worth its while.

Johor also won the Cup in 1985 when they beat Kuala Lumpur 2-0.

Johor is also the Super League champion this year and a second trophy will surely be sweet.

What better final can we ask for with the defending Malaysia Cup and 2014 FA Cup champion up against the 2014 Super League champion?

The final will definitely be a clear case of a team development versus a team built in two years with millions of ringgit spent.

Both teams have a huge fan base and that will certainly heighten the electrifying atmosphere of the final, while on the pitch some of the best players, local and foreign, will be on parade.

But while the fans have been ever loyal to their teams, they have to keep their emotions in check and accept the end-result sportingly. The last thing we need is hooliganism spoiling a grand night.

Both teams have a list of reasons why they should win the coveted Cup, but at the end of the day, the team who want it more will triumph.

The other night on television, I saw Pahang’s Dickson Nwakaeme singing our national anthem with his teammates before the start of the game. Now that is something which will spur the local players in his team.

It is not going to be an easy battle as both teams will come out with guns blazing and the match officials for the night will play a crucial part in ensuring an entertaining and fair final.

All in all, I am expecting the final to be nothing short of sizzling that could well be decided by penalty kicks and end the next day (past midnight). As I am all for long-term planning and development, I see Pahang winning but very narrowly.

Good luck both teams. Hope you rock the Bukit Jalil Stadium!

Footnote: The tournament began in 1921, when it was called the Malaya Cup. The original trophy was presented by the officers and men of a British battleship, the HMS Malaya. In honour of this, the competition was renamed the HMS Malaya Cup in 1933. A new trophy was inaugurated in 1967, and since then the competition has been known as the Malaysia Cup.

Just deal with it!

Icons from the past – Lt Com (Rtd Navy) Karunakarer Selvaratnam

(H) Karu a double international by chance introduction

By TONY MARIADASS

tmariadass@gmail.com

In an era where sportsmen and women have all facilities and opportunities to excel and still there is a dearth of quality athletes, Lt Com (Rtd) Karunakarer Selvaratnam’s achievements is an inspiring story.

The 73-year-old former navy officer is a double international in cricket and athletics and that fact that he was exposed to both sports by chance and yet excelled is indeed remarkable.

Karu as he is known in the sports circle hails from Batu Gajah, Perak, picked up cricket in Sri Lanka when he was ten-years-old and athletics as a 15-year-old.

By chance

“My whole family (three boys and a girl) went to Sri Lanka in November 1951 during the school holidays to visit my ailing grandfather,” recalled Karu.

“As it turned out my grandfather got better by the day and what was a holiday trip extended to three years. While my father returned to Malaya (then) because of his work a supervisor at Perak River Hydro Station, we stayed on and I continued my studies at St Anthony’s College in Candy.

“It was here that I was introduced to cricket, a sports widely played in the country.

“I got hooked on it and was good at it too.”

Returned home

Karu said that his father thought it was about time family returned home three years later and returned to continue his schooling in Anglo Chinese School, Ipoh.

While he continued to play cricket and played for the State team as a schoolboy, he also played badminton and football.

“But I gave up the other sports to concentrate on cricket,” said Karu who was named the Sportsboy of the year in 1958.

First brush with athletics

It was in 1956 that Karu had his first state of running with no formal training.

“I was helping out at the school sports meet mixing drinks, serving and carrying athletics equipment under my teacher Rasa Durai.

“Towards the end of the meet when the 4 X400m relay was the highlight of the meet, Rasa Durai came looking for me, gave me a T-shirt, found me a pair of shorts and asked me to run for my Tagore House, as the regular runner M. Shanmuganathan had injured himself in an earlier race.

“I really did not know what to in the relay race and Rasa Durai told me to run as the second runner and since the field was only 200m, was told to run two rounds and pass the baton to the next runner.

“I just did that and ran the race of my life without looking back and passed the baton on to the next runner. We won the race and I got my first athletics medal.”

Karu said after the race Rasa Durai told him to report to the schools’ sports secretary, Lee Hoo Kiat, who had watched him run and was impressed.

“The next think I knew I was in the schools athletics team and was also doing long jump.”

First taste of hurdling

Karu then went to take up hurdling also by chance.

There was an American coach, Tom Rosandich, under a programme doing talent scouting and was looking for hurdlers.

“This coach came to my school and asked for athletes interested in hurdling to join his coaching clinic. But there was only one or two boys and he looked at me and asked me if I was the one doing long jump. When I said yes, he asked me to join his hurdling clinic,” recalled Karu.

“The next think I knew I was hurdling and was asked to run the 400 hurdles because the hurdles were lower and it suited me better.

“The rest is history as I went on to improve and was representing the State before Malaya,” said Karu who had a personal best of 48.4 for the 400m and 52.7 for the 400m hurdles.

Karu’s most memorable moment was winning the silver medal in the 4 X 400m at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta with Rahim Ahmad, Asir Victor and M. Jegathesan and the gold in the 1965 Sea Games with Asir, Jegathesan and A.S. Nathan.

 Career decision

Karu who had joined the Navy in 1960, had a short athletics career because in 1965 he was offered to attend an officer’s course in England at the Britannia Royal Navy College in Dartmouth.

He made a career decision and quit athletics.

But in that short period, Karu had represented the nation in two SEAP Games winning the 400m hurdles in 1961 and 4X 400 relay at the 1965 Games. He also competed in the 1962 Asian Games and in the 1964 Olympics Games in Tokyo.

In cricket, he represented the nation from 1960 to 1965 and 1978 to 1982 and having captained the team in 1980.

Karu had also represented the Armed Forces in hockey, badminton and football.

Karu after his playing days was involved in coaching at the Navy and Armed Forces.

He made a comeback to athletics for the 1973 Sea Games where he won the silver medal in 400m.

It all happened when he was preparing the Armed Forces team for the national championship and was pacing his athletes for the first 200m in training, but when to finish the 400m ahead as the athletes never caught up with him.

It was then than that his athletes urged him to run in the national championship and won the race too and earned his ticket to the Sea Games at the age of 32. That was his last race. He opted for optional retirement from the Navy in 1987.

Administrative and Managerial positions

Karu has held many administrative post starting as the Sports Officer of the Royal Malaysian Navy from1969-70, Head of Naval Sports Complex (1981-1987), general manager of Royal Selangor Club (1987-1989), secretary of Malaysian Cricket Association (1989-2003) and manager of national cricket team on numerous occasions.

Current

Karu now spend most of his time with his family especially with his seven grandchildren and plays social golf to keep in touch with his friends.

Golf was another sport, Karu picked up as early as 1976 and was a single handicapper at his peak. He now plays an 18 handicap.

Karu also keeps abreast with local sports and like most of the athletes of the past, cannot understand why Malaysian sports have not improved after all these years when sports was already sailing high in the yesteryears.

“With all the facilities, funding, exposure and expertise, it baffles me why Malaysian sports it at such a low ebb.

“But among the reasons I will list for the current state is the poor administration of associations, the right people not in the right place, no proper structure for sports to grow, lowering our standards and the athletes themselves not having the passion to excel.”

However, Karu believes that there is hope for Malaysian sports, if it is done the right way professionally.

Nordin has big dreams

Published on Saturday 4th October

ICONS FROM THE PAST - NORDIN MOHAMED JADI

by tony mariadass

FORMER national track athlete Nordin Mohamed Jadi has chosen a path many elite athletes have ignored.

The 200m and 400m track star of the 1980s dedicated his life to athletics even after hanging up his spikes internationally in 1991 and nationally in 1994.

The 52-year-old father of four (three girls and a boy) is employed by Maybank, but is actively involved in the development of athletes in Johor.

Nordin with some of the athletes training under him.

His passion is so great that after coaching in Muar, Batu Pahat and Kluang, he formed the Nordin Jadi Athletics Club in 2005.

“I wanted to do more for Johor and to give back to the sport which brought me fame,” said Nordin who competed in two Olympics — Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988 and three Asian Games — 1982 (New Delhi), 1986 (Seoul) and 1990 (Beijing).

“The club concept was dying. Many of our top athletes in the past came through clubs such as Jets, Lights, Panthers, Pelanduk, Prisons and Government Services Sport Club,” said Nordin who competed in six SEA Games from 1981 to 1991.

“I was also roped in by Johor Sports Council (JSC) to do an athletics programme from 2002. This allowed me to expand my programmes to more districts and schools,” said the bespectacled athlete who won gold in 400m at the 1985 and 1987 SEA Games in Bangkok and Jakarta respectively and 4x400m at the 1987 and 1989 Kuala Lumpur Games.

Nordin also won silver medals at the 1987 Asian Track and Field Championships in Singapore in the 400m and 4x400m and has a personal best of 21.4s for the 200m set in 1983 and 46.56s for the 400m set in 1987.

He was also involved in football as the fitness coach with the Johor team coached by Karl Weigang in 2003 and 2004 and the Johor futsal team in 2007 and was Malaysia’s flag bearer for the opening ceremony of the Seoul Olympics.

Nordin started an academy at the Larkin Stadium a year ago, but it was short-lived as the stadium was taken over by the Johor Darul Takzim football team.

He now moves around the districts and has weekend programmes in Kluang.

“I have about 20 athletes under me, while many others train under various programmes in their districts,” he said.

Nordin is also in charge of the Johor athletics programme for the Malaysia Games (Sukma).

1987 Sea Games 4x400m gold medalists (Standing from left): Andrew Scully, Nordin Jadi, Johari (official), Ratna Dewi, Rashid Haron (coach), Joseph Phan and Ismail Hashim. Squatting (from left): Sajaratultudur, Josephine Mary and Oon Yee Chan

“JSC has been very supportive and gives RM500,000 for a two-year programme for each Sukma. I have a panel of coaches and we have been able to reach more athletes.”

Nordin who has always kept a low-profile, said he preferred working at the grassroots although it was hard work and not glamorous.

“It is satisfying to see your athletes grow and make their mark. It may be a long process and sometimes your work is not recognised, but I am not affected by it.

“I just want to give back to the sport all that I have learnt as a national athlete,” said Nordin who attained a Level 3 specifics coaching certificate and has been coach of the Johor Sukma team from 2001.

His other coaching experience include being the national coach for the Asian Youth Championships in 2004 in Ipoh.

“Athletes these days do not have goals and ambitions. They are not prepared to work hard or make sacrifices,” moaned Nordin.

“But I ensure athletes who come under my programme adhere to my philosophy of ‘commitment, attitude, performance’. ” Nordin’s ambition is to see his club produce a steady supply of athletes for state and country.

“Those years we had to fight hard to get a place for any event. It is sad now even at the SEA Games level, we cannot field athletes in all events.

“Something drastic needs, but it cannot be achieved overnight.

“It has to be a long-term programme. We cannot continue to have short-term programmes. And if we do not work hard at the grassroots — especially at the schools — we are going to continue to face disappointment,” said Nordin.

With many state associations and even the national body not doing enough, it is time former athletes emulate Nordin’s example.

It’s now or never

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 03, 2014 - the malay mail

Kamaruddi Haziq (right) in action against China in the men’s recurve fi nal. Archery has benefited from long-term development plans. — Picture by AFP

THE writing has been on the wall for some time but officials chose to ignore it or were hoping for a quick turnaround.

But after back-to-back “failures” — to use sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s own word — governors of Malaysian sports must address the situation immediately to stop the rot.

For far too long there have been promises of stringent measures after each debacle but more often than not, they were half-heartedly implemented.

Of course, many will try to justify Malaysia’s performance. The excuses will be the same — silvers could have been gold, competition in certain sports was tough, we were drawn in difficult groups and luck was not on our side.

The fact remains no one remembers a silver medal. We should not depend on the luck of the draw. It is the physical and mental strength of the athletes that matter.

Depending on ageing athletes is certainly not the best formula. Khairy, it is learnt, is going to shake up the National Sports Council (NSC), but he must not stop there. He must ask the National Sports Associations (NSA) leaders who have failed to step down.

There must be a change from top to bottom. Sepaktakraw, especially, has time and again failed. The association cannot give any more excuses.

Khairy must also not make the mistake of coming up with shortterm programmes. The last longterm programme was Jaya 98, a six-year plan that bore fruit in the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Setting up a special unit to oversee programmes for the 2016 Olympics and 2018 Asian and Commonwealth Games may see us fall into the same trap. What we need is at least a six- or eight-year programme.

This means we start focusing on young athletes under a systematic training programme. As far as possible, overseas stints should be used for competitions.

Base the athletes locally with the best brains in coaching, be it local or foreign, handling the programmes.

Next year’s SEA Games in Singapore and the 2017 Games hosted by Malaysia should be used to expose as many young athletes as possible.

For proof that long-term development programmes work, just look at sailing and archery.

Above all, NSAs should be fully committed to and involved in these programmes.

NSC should be the financial backer and monitor agency of programmes submitted to it for aid. It is the respective sports associations who are the experts and should be allowed to conduct their programmes.

If the NSC is an expert in all sports, then it should shut down all NSA and be the sole body for Malaysian sports.

It will be frustrating for associations at the start of longterm programmes but they must soldier on. Working with young athletes seldom brings immediate success, but the end result can be very rewarding.

There can be no room for sentiments. One has to be cruel to be kind and many will have to make way for a good thing.

The efforts of many officials should be recognised, but they have to vacate their seats if they love Malaysian sports.

At the same time, athletes have to buck up and set their own targets. They can no longer be floating in the system and continue to enjoy the benefits if they do not improve.

We need warriors among our athletes, not hangers-on.

It is time for the real officials and athletes to stand up and be counted. Those who cannot take the demands of high-performance sports have to ship out.

We have to make every ringgit spent worth it.