Skip to main content

Negara kehilangan 'Bapa Hoki Malaysia'


Sultan Azlan Shah (duduk paling kiri) bersama rakan-rakan baginda dalam pasukan hoki University Nottingham (1951-1952).
KUALA LUMPUR - Almarhum Sultan Azlan Shah bukan hanya menaruh minat yang mendalam terhadap hoki malah sering mencemar duli untuk menzahirkan sokongan moralnya kepada mana-mana atlet sukan lain setiap kali berlangsungnya temasya sukan besar.

Ketua Pengarah Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN), Datuk Seri Zolkples Embong berkata, beliau pernah beberapa kali menemani Almarhum yang bukan hanya menonton aksi atlet di padang malah melawat mereka di perkampungan Sukan Olimpik atau Sukan Asia.

"Almarhum memang mudah didekati dan seorang yang merendah diri tetapi tidak banyak bercakap. Kemangkatannya satu kehilangan besar kepada sukan tempatan, terutama sukan hoki Malaysia dan dunia.

"Ketokohannya sebagai pemimpin sukan memang tiada tolok bandingnya dan saya rasa tiada orang yang lebih layak untuk digelar Bapa Hoki Malaysia kecuali Almarhum," katanya.

Bagaimanapun, beliau berharap kemangkatan Sultan Azlan Shah tidak melemahkan semangat pemain-pemain hoki yang akan berjuang dalam Piala Dunia di The Hague, Belanda, sebaliknya membuktikan sesuatu sebagai penghormatan terakhir mereka kepada baginda, yang menjadi Presiden Persekutuan Hoki Malaysia selama lebih 41 tahun.

Zolkples juga memaklumkan, pihaknya telah mengarahkan agar bacaan Al-Fatihah dan bertafakur selama seminit diadakan sebelum setiap acara Sukan Malaysia XVII yang sedang berlangsung di Perlis dimulakan sebagai penghormatan kepada Almarhum Sultan Azlan Shah.

"Bagi upacara penyampaian pingat Sukan Malaysia jika melibatkan atlet Perak, bendera negeri itu akan dinaikkan separuh tiang," katanya.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...