Doctor of cricket

Published on Saturday 6th September The Malay Mail

By TONY MARIADASS

IF Malaysian sports had someone like Datuk Dr Harjit Singh in every sport, it would be thriving.
Talk about undying passion, dedication and sacrifice, Dr Harjit has it all. And the beneficiaries are cricket and hockey especially in Johor.

From father to son

Dr Harjit, 64, acquired his passion for the game from his father Meva Singh, who was an ex-Selangor and renowned Kilat Club cricketer.
The good doctor learnt to score at the age of five, earned his personal bat six and came under the watchful eye of the famous Mike Shepherdson at the Kilat nets.
As a student of English College Johor Baru, Dr Harjit made news by being among the very few picked to play in the Combined Schools for four consecutive years — 1965 to 1968. He was a star player in his teens, representing the Johor XI as a teenager in 1966.
The University of Ranchi medical graduate often made headlines during his college days in India, captaining his college XI, playing first division cricket in the Patna Senior Division League and representing the Dhanbad District.
When he returned to Malaysia in 1980, Dr Harjit was a national player until a knee injury put an end to his playing days, but not his love for the game. It’s amazing how Dr Harjit’s enthusiasm for cricket has continued unabated all these years, but then again, the man entered the game during its golden era in Malaysia — the 1960s.

Schools, the heartbeat of sports

Until today, Dr Harjit, whose trademark is his humility, credits his schoolteachers Terence Jayateleka, Gurdial Singh Jr and A. Kumaran for introducing him to cricket and instilling in him a dedication to the game.
If not for students like Dr Harjit and a few die hard sports teachers, cricket would have died a natural death in the 1966 boycott of extra-curricular activities by the National Union of Teachers to demand better working conditions and incentives.
The game suffered another blow in 1972 when the ministry of education dropped cricket and rugby from the schools sports calendar. Again, a few teachers and students kept the cricket flag flying in schools. The worst setback for cricket and sport in schools came in the mid-Eighties when the intake of trainee teachers was based strictly on academic qualifications and no consideration for sporting excellence.
The likes of Yazid Imran and R. Ravindran, who were both representing the country in cricket then, had just left school and were seriously considering joining The Teachers Training College. However, the duo from Johor was denied admission because their paper qualifications were not good enough.
Dr Harjit strongly believes that if Yazid and Ravindran had become teachers, cricket and sport would have benefited greatly from their knowledge and dedication. He says many more like Yazid and Ravindran suffered the same fate.
Meantime, the victim in all this was sport in schools, but not if Dr Harjit could help it.
“I had even given a talk on schools sports with the presence of our current deputy prime minister cum education minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the then sports minister, but little has changed,” recalled Dr Harjit.
“I still believe Tan Sri Muhyiddin as the education minister can still change the concept towards sports in schools.
“The only way to save the game is for it to be played at school and have more sports teachers for the various sports.”

As a student of English College Johor Baru, Harjit (standing third from left) was among the few chosen to play in the Combined Schools for four consecutive years from 1965.

Grassroots development

Dr Harjit had set the ball rolling in Johor by introducing the Kancil Programme Catch’em Young in 1987. The aim of the programme was to popularise cricket in schools and elevate its standard in the country.
The programme batted off with 17 schools in Johor Baru but today, it has spread to close to 200 schools in the state, with the involvement of almost all the 11 districts.
Dr Harjit, deputy president of the Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) from 1990 to 2003 and chairman of the development, then went national with the programme. In Johor, even schools in Felda schemes and kampung get a taste of cricket.

Johor cricket soars

Indeed, cricket has reached a new level in Johor, thanks to the tireless efforts of Dr Harjit, who has been president of the Johor Cricket Council (JCC) since taking over from D. Devendran in 1987.
Another milestone in Dr Harjit’s career as the healer of cricket was getting the Johor government to allot 14 acres for what is now the first cricket academy in Southeast Asia.
The academy, which offers first class cricket facilities, is a regional centre for the sport.
The Johor Cricket Academy got a new indoor hall and changing room when Dr Harjit, through the support of the Johor government and sports ministry, managed to host the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2008.

Recognition

Recognition and accolades have come aplenty for Dr Harjit from all corners of the world and in all forms — MCA, ICC, national and state awards from the government, a tournament named after him, the honour of sitting in on the Asian Cricket Council, leadership awards and above all, the respect of the world cricket fraternity.
Even as praises grow, Dr Harjit remains what he has always been: down-to-earth.
The Johor Cricket Association under the leadership of Dr Harjit again had saved the Saudara Cup in 2009 — held since 1970 — from slipping into oblivion after Malaysian Cricket Association agreed to their request to allow them to host it.
This historic competition between Malaysia and Singapore was seriously threatened by the other Malaysia-Singapore encounters in the Asian Cricket Council tournaments. Again, Dr Harjit fought tooth and nail to keep it alive.

Tribute

“It is a tireless job, but I love it because of my passion for it. I am indeed grateful to the Johor royal family — the late Sultan of Johor, the present Sultan and the Tunku Mahkota of Johor for the undivided support for the game.
“I also have to give special mention to the former Menteri Besar of Johor, Datuk Tan Sri Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman  who assisted in getting the land for the academy.

Punish the real culprits

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 05, 2014 - The malay Mail

THE mayhem in Kuching over the weekend is nothing new to Sarawak. In fact, it is nothing new to Malaysian football.

Yes, it is probably the worst incident with five policemen injured, eight police vehicles damaged and the Perak team leaving the Kuching Stadium at 2.30am.

But we had similar burning of buses in Terengganu and police vehicles in Kelantan and crowd violence in almost all stadiums in the country at one time or another.

The question is, was enough done to prevent such incidents?

Whenever they do, everyone starts pointing fingers, the media goes to town and the FA of Malaysia’s disciplinary committee acts busy. Before you know it, the matter is forgotten, until another incident.

Yes, the FA of Malaysia takes action, but whether the punishment is harsh enough to hurt the State FAs responsible for security is something else.

I have personally been there when crowd violence broke out in M-League or Malaysia Cup matches — as a sports journalist in the 1980s and attending disciplinary board meetings as manager of The Malay Mail FC team who competed in the FAM Cup competition and M-League Division 2 in the late 1990s and early 2000.

Kuching is a volatile venue, like Sabah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perak.

More often than not, violence breaks out not because of inadequate security measures, but mainly because of overzealous fans who get emotional when their teams are losing.

Sometimes, officials of home teams fuel the situation when they over-react and turn to their fans for support. Then we have officials who even go down to the playing field to show their disgust, which only excites the crowd further.

I witnessed crowd violence in Kuching as far back as 1982 when matches were played at the Jubilee ground, which just had a fence around the open fi eld and fans stood around to watch.

Once during a match, Kuala Lumpur, then known as Federal Territory, the crowd stomp down the fence when a few of the city players carried out an injured Sarawak player, who they claimed was wasting time — Sarawak were leading by a goal with few minutes remaining.

The fans charged at the KL players, throwing punches, which saw Fuad Hassan lose two teeth while another lost his gold chain before the police brought the situation under control by throwing a cordon around the players.

Sarawak fans have always volatile and it’s time FAM takes sterner action against fans and States FAs.

The players had to be escorted to police trucks and were sent to their hotel where they were given round-the-clock protection. The next day they were taken from the hotel straight to the airport to board their plane.

As a football writer, I have had my fair share of travelling with teams in their buses after matches with police escort and also fully armed policemen in the bus, not to mention riding in police trucks, being locked in the dressing room for hours after matches in Kuching, Ipoh and Kelantan.

As the Malay Mail manager, I and the players had to remain in the dressing room of the Selayang Stadium in 2002 after we were charged at by the fans after the game.

The proceedings in the disciplinary board meeting left me disgusted.

While we were clearly the victims — we had video recordings which, among other things, showed a 16-year-old player being struck several times on his back with a plastic pipe and me being struck in the face — I and my team leader Datuk Ahirudin Attan were asked to not demand a stern sentence for the culprits who were identified.

We were also asked to accept the imposition of a fine. Of course, we flatly refused.

After deferring the decision and several meetings later, the minimum sentence was dished out.

So, when teams can negotiate their punishment, how can it serve as a deterrence when the very people who are supposed to put things right, make compromises?

One official in the disciplinary board, who was an ex-international, even told me to just concentrate on being a journalist. So much for encouraging people to help football! The point I am driving here is, how many compromises would have been made simply because FAM needs the support of the state FAs.

Are the state FAs being punished according to the gravity of their offences.

At the same time, the police should play a key role in ensuring the safety of visiting teams. While most state FAs have the full cooperation of the police and even have members of the force on their security committees, sometimes the authorities take things for granted and only react when there is a situation.

More often than not, the Federal Reserve Unit personnel remain in their trucks until there is trouble instead of being on guard around the perimeters of the playing field.

The police force or security officers should also be manning the terraces to nip any unruly crowd behaviour in the bud.

It is of utmost importance to make the stadiums a safe place because more children and women are now attending matches.

It is just a small group of irresponsible youth who create problems and smear the good names of the associations. These individuals need to be nabbed and banned from the stadiums. The state FAs alone cannot be punished with hefty fines.

The crowds at the stadiums have been growing. This is a good and should not be derailed by a few irresponsible individuals.

Tony Mariadass is a sports journalist with more than three decades of experience and is passionate about local sports. He can be reached at tmariadass@gmail.com. Twitter handle: @tmariadass

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.

FAM must help those who want to coach

FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014 - The Malay mail

BUDDING football coaches are up in arms because they claim they are not being given a fair chance to make the grade and make a career out of coaching.

While the general perception is that not many quality coaches are coming through the ranks, the real story is that many have been sidelined because of an individual in the FA of Malaysia's coaching educators department, who has become very powerful. So powerful that this person decides who can pursue a career in coaching and who cannot.

For the record, I obtained my FA of Malaysia B coaching licence in 2001 Even then I noticed some irregularities. State and national players reported late for the course while one was injured throughout the two-week period and only attended classroom sessions. In fact, he did his theory on his test day.

Mind you, all of them got their licence. I have nothing against them — maybe as state and national players they had some advantages and made better coaches. But there was a distinct lack of fairness in the whole affair.

There was a candidate who was very interested in football and wanted to attend a course to learn something new, but was ridiculed for wasting his time and told he was capable of coaching only at club level.

So what if a B licensed coach taught at clubs? Maybe he would produce better players from the grassroots. Not surprisingly, this candidate did not get his B licence.

Recently, I approached the FA of Malaysia’s (FAM) coaching educators department to ask if it could admit a former Sikh M-League player from Kuala Lumpur — who is now coaching at club level — to attend a C licence course because his State FA could not list him for one.

But I was told it was not possible and he had to go through his State FA.

Yes, there are rules, but many complain there is favouritism at the State FAs and only the chosen ones get a break. Besides, the State FAs have a quota.

Here was a footballer who desperately wanted to coach and do it properly. Besides, how often do we get Sikhs wanting to be coaches?

I am not asking he be passed, but only be allowed to attend the course. If FAM finds he is not good enough, so be it.

I keep hearing all kinds of complaints about a certain individual in the coaching educators department and how he favours those close to him and finds reasons to reject candidates including them being too old or not having coached a team recently. FAM should investigate these allegations.

There are many who are willing to bring their grouses to FAM if they are allowed to.

It is not just about failing to get a particular licence but about not even getting a seat, ill treatment, abuse and, above all, not being given a fair chance.

Why aren’t we promoting coaches who are interested in football instead of handing licences to those who only display their certicates in cabinets?

If this continues, the coaching system is going to suffer as we will continue to lose interested and dedicated coaches.

TONY MARIADASS is a sports journalist with more than three decades of experience and is passionate about local sports. He can be reached at tmariadass@ gmail.com. Twitter handle: @ tmariadass

Kwai Lam still walking tall

Published on Saturday 16th August, 2014 (The Malay Mail)

By TONY MARIADASS

A DARK episode at the tail end of Chow Kwai Lam’s illustrious career as a player and coach has not made him a lesser man than he richly deserves.

Kwai Lam, who turns 72 on Aug 26, has always been known as a par excellence midfielder and a firebrand coach, who attained many notable results.

In 2007, Kwai Lam was fined S$50,000 (RM114,000) by the District Court in Singapore in lieu of four months' jail for attempted bribery involving a Singapore League (S-League) match two years earlier.

Kwai Lam paid the fine.

He was charged with corruptly offering a sum of S$200 (RM455) to S$300 (RM684) and an unspecified amount of cash to Zulkifli Zainolabidin, who was the first choice goalkeeper of the Paya Lebar Punggol club, where he was coaching.

Innocent

“It was an episode which came about through sheer negligence,” said Kwai Lam.

“It was a clear case of misunderstanding as I was testing the player, but my fault was that I had not reported it to anyone.

“I had just asked the player if he would ‘sell’ a game for S$200 as I was doing my own investigations. The player said no, and I left the matter at that.

“But after I left the club, there was an investigation. This player had made a report and I was hauled in.

“Yes, I was charged, but I stand innocent. My conscience is clear.

“I did not appeal (against the sentence) on the advice of my lawyer. Besides, I had already spent RM200,000 on legal fees.

“Singapore was bent on making an example of someone as they were doing everything possible to curb match-fixing. I became a victim.

“Although sad over the episode, I hold no grudges against anyone.

“All that mattered was that people who knew me knew that I was innocent. I had nothing to prove after all the years I had served football.”

Kwai Lam had a successful spell with KL, steering the city team to three Malaysia Cup triumphs in the 80's.

Excellence

Kwai Lam said he has put the episode behind him.

“I still travel freely in and out of Singapore... nothing has changed," he said. “I have always strived for the best in what I do as a player and coach and have had many memorable moments.

“As a player, I used to score many goals and won many tournaments.

“As a coach, I have done equally well both as a local and national coach.”

Kwai Lam has the credit of having won the Malaysia Cup medal thrice with Selangor as a player and six times (thrice with Selangor and thrice with Kuala Lumpur) as a coach.

His most memorable being as coach of the KL team who went to win the Malaysia Cup three times-in-a-row from 1987 to 1989 besides winning the League Cup (1988), Charity Shield (1988 and 1989) “I think that record is going to be a difficult for any coach to beat,” said Kwai Lam proudly.

Early beginnings

Kwai Lam, who hails from Negri Sembilan, played for the state team from 1961 to 1965 and was a member of the national youth team which competed in the Asian youth championship in 1961 and 1962.

His coach then was none other than Datuk Peter Velappan, who had coached the Negri Sembilan combined schools team.

Kwai Lam made his debut with the national team in 1965 when he played against England’s Southampton FC and went on to don national colours till 1971.

One of his proudest moments as a player was when he was selected for the Asian All-Star team in 1968 to play against Arsenal.

Kwai Lam also has a proud runners-up medal from the inaugural Asian Champion Club championship in 1967, losing to Israel.

Coaching

Kwai Lam owes his equally successful coaching career to the FA of Malaysia for selecting him, Abdul Rahman Ibrahim and Mohamad Bakar to attend a Diploma Grade A course at the German Football Association in Hennef in1978.

He had attained his advanced and A licence from FAM a year earlier.

“In the coaching course in Heneff, I was the top student and it was inspirational in shaping my coaching career.

I also have to thank former national coach Karl Weigang for his assistance,” said Kwai Lam, who was the German coach’s understudy from 1976 to 1977.

Kwai Lam also had the opportunity learn from the best when he was on attachment with German club Borussia Monchengladbach in 1978, then under Udo Lattek and Jupp Hencyekes, for a month.

Personality

Kwai Lam, as a coach, was known for his firebrand attitude.

“I was just a strict and disciplined coach. I brooked no nonsense and treated everyone equally. There were no favourites in my team. Even if he was the top player, he had to pay the price if he shirked his workrate," said Kwai Lam.

“Many saw me as a fierce coach, but I think that is because I am a no-nonsense person."

Tribute

Kwai Lam paid tribute to former KLFA Tan Sri Elyas Omar, who transformed the KL team from minnows to champions over a short period in the 80s.

“He was a visionary man and I am happy to have worked under him and tasted the success which he mapped out,” said Kwai Lam.

“Another man who helped transform KL is former World Cup coach Dr Josef Venglos. I am indeed honoured to have worked under him and learnt a great deal.”

Kwai Lam said he is sad to see the state of KL football today and can only hope that it will regain past glory.

Down but not out.

Kwai Lam suffered a stroke two years ago, where his left side was affected. But being the go-getter that he is, he has made a remarkable recovery and keeps himself fit by going to the gym without fail six times a week at the Selangor Chinese Recreation Club (SCRC).

“I may not be actively involved in football these days, but it is close to my heart," said Kwai Lam.

“I have a daughter, who is a lawyer, and a son who is an accountant. I am happy being close to my family these days. I have had an active football life and have no regrets. Now, I just reminisce about the good times and the achievements attained.”

Fair play in sports starts at selection

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 2014 the Malay Mail

IT is about time we stopped kidding ourselves that everything is fine with our selection system.

Until we practise fairness and impartiality, Malaysian sports is never going to be represented by the best. 

Sports should be blind to race, creed and colour, and in a multiracial country like ours, it is even more important to adhere to this philosophy strictly.

All the 1Malaysia aspirations will come to naught if we do not practise what we preach. No matter how much we want to stay away from the subject or address the situation, it is happening all around us.

It is pointless to believe that everything is in order and sweep the issue under the carpet because it is going to haunt us and undermine our overall performance.

I would like to believe that everything is fine, but several issues that were brought to my attention have proved me wrong. It seems sports in this country is not fair after all.

It immediately brought back memories of the early 1980s when I was a rookie reporter and had written about middle-distance runner and Asean schools' gold medallist S. Ganesan. He was denied a place at the then Universiti Pertanian because the Victoria Institution lad had attained a Grade 2 in his Malaysian Certificate of Education examination. No exception was made in Ganesan's case although he was a national schools athlete and had won honours for the country.

The then Sports Minister, the late Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Daud, whom I had interviewed soon after he assumed his new post after having served the Education Ministry, had said he would ensure that athletes who performed well were given some form of exemption for entry into institutions of higher learning.

After reading the article, Ganesan asked if I could help him meet Dr Sulaiman to plead his case. I told Ganesan to come to Merdeka Stadium where Dr Sulaiman was a guest of honour at an athletics meet.

I took Ganesan to the good minister during tea break and here is what he told the lad: “My boy, at the end of the day, results in sports cannot compensate for education results. You have to get the required results to gain entry.”

After the dejected Ganesan left, I asked Dr Sulaiman why he had talked differently in the interview.

He simply replied: “Yeah, but we cannot compromise on grades required for entries.”

But Ganesan, determined to pursue his studies, called me a few months later to say he had got into the university. When I asked him how, he said he had gone to Penang for the national schools meet where Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the then Education Minister, was the guest of honour. He said he approached Abdullah and pleaded his case. Abdullah, after seeing both his academic and sports certificates, told him to go back to Kuala Lumpur and wait for a letter.

A few days later, Ganesan received a letter from Universiti Pertanian asking him to come for an interview. The lad eventually gained entry and graduated a few years later. He is now a successful businessman.

This story brings us to this question: How many talented athletes have been denied the opportunity to further their studies because they concentrated on their performance on the track than in the classroom?

After 30 years, nothing much has changed as I came across another case where a budding middle-distance runner, both of whose parents are celebrated national athletes, was denied entry into pre-university.

This athlete had dropped out of an excellence school in the city because he was homesick and lonely. Doesn’t the athlete deserve a second chance, especially having done well in the national athletics meet and, above all, possessing the genes of sports personalities? We have bureaucracy to thank for this state of affairs.

The national teams of the 1960s to 1980s were truly Malaysian in nature, comprising the best players available.

Malaysia is in a wonderful position of being able to pick from so many races, each with their own strengths, unlike South Korea, Japan and China, which have only one race to depend on. When combined, these Malaysians would definitely make a world class team.

So, let’s start playing it fair from the word go and maybe Malaysia will be able to attain far better results than it does now.

TONY MARIADASS is a sports journalist with more than three decades of experience and is 
passionate about local sports. He can be reached at tmariadass@gmail.com. Twitter handle: @tmariadass

Family on right track

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 2014 - THE MALAY MAIL

By TONY MARIADASS

IT rarely happens but Josephine Mary and Samson Vallabuoy, national middle distance runners in the 80's, have kept the tradition going with their two daughters.

Josephine, 47, and Samson, 48, were products of the Panther athletics club in Ipoh, helmed by national coach K. Jayabalan. The two national athletes married in 1995. Their union produced two daughters -- Jocelyn, 18, and Sheeren, 16, and both have represented Perak in athletics.

Sheeren is currently in Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) and has qualified as a member of the 4x400m relay team for the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, next month.

At the Malaysian Open in Kangar this year, Sheeren won the silver medals in the 400m and 4x400m. She also made her international debut in the Taiwan Open, where she finished fourth.

Jocelyn was a student in BJSS in 2012, but withdrew after five months because of personal reasons. She represented Perak in the 4x100m and 4x400m at the Malaysian Open, winning bronze. Currently, she is a pre-university student in Ipoh.

Husband-and-wife team

Josephine, who represented Malaysia in six Sea Games (1983 to 1993), three Asian Track and Field (ATF) championships (1987 to 1991) and two Asian Games (1986 to 1990) still holds the national 800m record set at the Seoul Asian Games in 1986, where she won bronze in a time of 2:07.44.

She also set the 400m record of 52.65s at the 1989 Sea Games, which was bettered by the late Rabia Abdul Salam who clocked 52.56s at the ATF in Manila in 1993.

Samson holds the Sea Games 800m record of 1:48.29 when he beat Isidro del Prado’s record 25 years ago.He was also a member of the 4x400m relay team (Azhar Hashim, Yazid Parlan, Samson and Nordin Jadi) who set a national record of 3:06.53 at the ATF in 1991.

Josephine (white shirt) conducting a training session for junior athletes at Perak Stadium.

Parental guidance

Josephine, who worked at Maybank, quit her job in 1997 to become a fulltime housewife. As their daughters grew up, she and Samson coached them in athletics and it no surprise that they soon excelled in the sport.

It was only in 2011 that Josephine, who holds a Level 3 coaching certificate, was roped in as coach by the Perak Sports Council.

Currently, she has 17 young athletes (all girls) training under her at the Perak Stadium six times a week. Samson, who runs a used car and transportation firm near the stadium, assists her whenever he has the time.

Athletics a way of life

“Athletics has been a part and parcel of my life. Now to be able to coach my two daughters to emulate the success of my husband and I is something I cherish,” said Josephine, who was recently in the US as coach of the national junior team at the World Junior championships in Oregon.

“Being able to coach the young talents in Perak means a lot because I want to to give back to the sport by producing a champion or two,” said Josephine, who was one of the coaches at the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in Kangar.

“Josephine is so dedicated to athletics that she turned down a lucrative salary to work for my company,” said Samson.

“As much as I want to be involved in athletics, someone has to work to feed the family. But I still help Josephine in the evenings when I am at the stadium to do my runs,” said Samson.

Sad state of athletics Both Josephine and Samson, however, lamented about the sad state of athletics in the country.

“In our time, the competition was so keen and one had to train very hard to be recognised among the best,” said Josephine, who has the proud honour of being the only female athlete chosen to represent the Asian team at the 1989 World Continental championships in Spain, where she competed in the relay team with the likes of India’s P.T. Usha and Shiny Abraham.

“As much as I am proud that my 800m record still stands after 28 years, I am sad that no one has erased it. It only underlines the poor state of athletics in the country.”

Samson said there were so many middle distance runners in the 80s and anyone of them could have won on their day.

“Today, there are so few athletes. We are in a situation where we do not have athletes to represent in events in the Sea Games. Even at the national meet, many events do not have heats or are scrapped due to the lack of entrants,” said Samson.

Both agreed that the decline started at the schools level, lack of young coaches, opportunities to make athletics a career, poor administration and many having their own agendas.

“There are ultra-modern facilities, sports science, nutrition and rewards to be reaped, yet we cannot find enough athletes who ca excel," said Josephine.

Glorious days

Both Josephine and Samson recalled the days when the government services, interbank, state and national championships were glamourous events which drew bumper entries.

“Today, there is too much infighting (among officials) and very little done for the athletes.

“Coaches, too, are a diminishing breed. However, coaches from our time are still around. We are indeed grateful to them for making us who we were, but we need to see fresh blood with new ideas," said Samson.

But Josephine and Samson said they will continue to do what little they can to help athletics.

Their genes alone will certainly help Malaysia see another champion in either Jocelyn or Shereen.