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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.

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