IPOH: What was to have been a normal annual general meeting of the Panthers Athletics Club last weekend saw the surprise appearance of youth and sports minister Ahmad Faizal Azumu.
The thrill increased with Faizal’s announcement of RM50,000 financial assistance to the 44-year-old grassroots club that has shaped many top athletes, including Olympians.
Faizal had originally wanted to just meet track legends Samson Vallabouy and Josephine Mary, the parents of national athlete Shereen who emerged queen of indoor 400m in second-tier US college athletics a week earlier.
But he decided to officially close the AGM of the club where Samson, Josephine and Shereen flourished in middle-distance running under chief Panther, Jayabalan Karuppiah.
The sensational feat of Shereen, who set a new championship mark and a Malaysian record of 53.79s at Pittsburg State University, Kansas, soon shifted to Jayabalan and his pack of Panthers.
“The stars are aligning for us with the government’s recognition of our grooming of young talent,” said Jayabalan, who at 76 is Malaysia’s oldest athletics coach at top level.
He said part of the money from the sports ministry will go towards Shereen’s education at Winona State University in Minnesota, where she is studying recreation and tourism on an athletics scholarship.
“Her feat at the US National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) division II championships also brought national attention to Panthers’ development programmes,” he said.
The joy of the former national coach and 400m champion is understandable as grassroots athletics has for decades been plagued by a lack of funding despite clubs bringing talents through their own system.
Panthers require about RM40,000 to run their activities every year and are dependent on fundraisers and well-wishers to, among other things, buy attire and running gear and to pay allowances for coaches.
Many clubs nationwide that provided standout athletes from the 60s to the 80s vanished due to lack of money, ineffective development of sports in schools and non-interest by parents.
They include Jets, Lights, Swift, Prisons, Kilat Club, Pakat, Harimau and several banks.
Jayabalan, the president of Panthers since 1980, maintains a firm grip on a steady conveyor belt at his club that keeps rolling out future stars.
It is a telling illustration of the power of the club in producing exceptional talent and quality coaches, boosted by the optimism and confidence of its 139 members, 55 of whom are aged between 12 and 16.
The club’s committee members, having bloomed as athletes under the tutelage of Jayabalan, are a fine example of sportspeople running a sports organisation.
They do not wish to be paid for their services and combine people skills with technical knowledge to enable athletes and coaches to maximise their potential and enjoy doing so at the same time.
The self-financed club, with no clubhouse and a training ground to call its own, thrive on perseverance and determination that the personable and popular Jayabalan calls “that Panther thing”.
Panthers without Jayabalan? Samson said: “When he blinks, the other guy is emboldened,” adding that “he knows what it takes to breed champions and to prepare them for their lives through sport”.
Samson, who is the club’s new deputy president, said Jayabalan was instrumental in promoting academic excellence and securing employment for many athletes in the public and private sectors.
The homegrown legend has as loaded a resume as he does an appetite for success and has memorable victories by his charges and himself to back his reputation.
Jayabalan beams with pride when he talks about the Panthers quartet (Rathna Dewi, Josephine Mary, Oon Yee Chan and Rohayati Omar) who snatched the 4x400m women’s relay gold for Malaysia at the 1987 Jakarta Sea Games.
At the 2007 Korat Sea Games, the men’s 4x400m relay team comprising Panthers, Amran Raj, S Thipen, Zaiful Zainal Abidin and Zafril Mohd Zusaini also won the gold medal.
“Sadly, for the first time, Malaysia will not be in both the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay at the Hanoi Sea Games in May,” said Jayabalan.
At least 10 athletes from the Panthers club were in the Sea Games squad over the years but things changed when Jayabalan was removed as national coach in 2015.
He said current coaches S Manogaran, Josephine, Kalai Selvam and M Latchumanan were highly motivated to develop more national athletes in the coming years and convince the sports ministry to continue assisting the club financially.
The club, he added, was also looking forward to working with a new academy, Young Talent Track & Field, that is set to launch a development programme for children aged between five and 12.
Jaayabalan’s journey as an athlete ended prematurely at the age of 24 due to injury but the story of his race to the top is invigorating.
At 14, he was a water boy for senior athletes training on the field near his house when Asir Victor, a mercurial figure of Malaysian athletics, discovered his talent.
“After watching me do a lap around the 300m track, he said he was impressed with my running and took me under his charge,” said Jayabalan, whose prowess on the track later landed him a job as public works department technician.
In 1970, Jayabalan beat Asir in the 400m at the Malaysian Open to qualify for the Bangkok Asian Games that year.
For the Asian Games, he was trained by schoolteacher and ex-Perak sprinter Ramalingam Suppiah, who also coached former queen of tracks M Rajamani.
He clocked his personal best of hand-timed 47.7 in the 400m under Ramalingam, who is now in his nineties.
Jayabalan said he had no plans to retire. “You’re never too old to learn. I love athletics, I love coaching and I love my athletes.” - FMT
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