SEREMBAN: S Sabapathy, a prodigiously talented sprinter in the 1970s who later became a champion of junior development and an angel of national athletes’ welfare, has died.
The Olympian, who ran the 4x400m relay at the 1972 Munich Games and gave regional sprinters the jitters, passed away at his home in Seremban 2 this morning. He was 75.
Sabapathy’s death followed complications from dementia, which he was diagnosed with three years ago.
His daughter S Mahaletchumy said her family was thankful to the National Athletes Welfare Foundation (Yakeb) for taking care of her father’s medical needs since 2015.
Yakeb chairman Noorul Ariffin Abdul Majeed said: “He was of that generation, who, when their sporting career was over, put so much back into sport.”
Noorul said Sabapathy gave selfless service as an executive with Yakeb from 2009 until 2016, driving the membership and looking into the well-being of ex-national athletes.
Their friendship goes back to the 1990s when Sabapathy, as Selangor coach, trained Noorul for the 3000m steeplechase and assisted him with physical conditioning.
Sabapathy was also a coach with the National Sports Council, Selangor Sports Council, Federal Territory Amateur Athletics Association and then United Asian Bank between 1985 and 2008.
He had worked hard as the pro tem secretary to revive the Malaysia Olympians Association (MOA) after it was deregistered in early 2000.
MOA president Noraseela Khalid said he was a mentor to young Olympians and a guiding light to budding athletes.
Sabapathy was also a person who staunchly opposed bias in sport, and spoke up against racial discrimination.
He experienced shock and hurt himself. He nearly missed the 1972 Olympics because of favouritism.
He missed the first Asian track and field championships a year later because of “racial profiling”.
Writing in a book, “Sports Flame – Stories Never Told Before”, he said he was nearly “outfoxed by politics in athletics” for a place in the 4x400m relay team to the Munich Olympics.
The relay quartet comprised Sabapathy, an employee of then National Electricity Board, teacher T Krishnan, Malaysian Prisons officers PLBS Peyadesa, Hassan Osman and reserve S Sivaraman.
Shortly before leaving for the Olympics from Cologne, where they were training, he was told by the team manager Zainal Abidin that he would be the reserve instead.
He claimed Zainal was influenced by Shamsuddin Jaffar, a Malaysian Prisons officer-coach, who was also in the Malaysian contingent, to have him replaced by Sivaraman.
According to him, Shamsuddin wanted to show the power of the prisons department at the Olympics, “never mind who was faster”.
Sabapathy demanded a trial run to settle the matter, outran the three prisons’ runners over 300m, and declared: “I came to run in the Olympics, and not to watch the Olympics”.
In Munich, the Malaysia 4x400m relay team of Sabapathy, Peyadesa, Hassan and Krishnan finished sixth in the heats clocking 3:13.51.
Before the Olympics, Sabapathy and the late 100m hurdles great Ishtiaq Mubarak trained and competed in the US under Robert Keyser “Bob” Schul, the 5000m champion at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
He also competed in then West Germany, taking gold in the 4x400m relay at the Stuttgart Allcomers meet, and bronze in the same event at the Asia vs Europe meeting in Dusseldorf.
For all his experience at the international level, he suffered a blow to his career in 1973, all because he was an Indian.
He was among several Indian athletes who were denied participation in the inaugural Asian track and field championships.
Sabapathy wrote that it was because a high-ranking official of then the Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union (MAAU) felt the national contingent resembled more like a “team from Madras”.
He said the remark was made by the same official who had promised them the ticket to Manila if they won gold at the Seap (now Sea) Games in Singapore two months earlier.
In Singapore, he struck gold in the 4x400m relay, won silver behind Thai legend Anat Ratanapol in the 200m, and got bronze in the 4x100m relay.
Sabapathy related that the Indian athletes were told by MAAU to break camp and return home two days before they were due to depart to Manila.
“All of us were angry, totally dejected and offended by the racial labelling. We felt let down and rejected by our own country.
“I loved winning titles for myself and bringing glory to Malaysia, but sometimes our country and athletics officials don’t appreciate the commitment, efforts and sacrifices an athlete makes for the nation,” he wrote in the book.
Adversity never fazed this legend. His mother died when he was a year old and he lived with the family of Mubarak Ahmad, for whom his father worked as a caretaker.
Mubarak, the father of Ishtiaq, was a senior police officer, sprinter and former president of the Federation of Malaysia Amateur Athletics Union, the forerunner of MAAU (now Malaysian Athletics Federation).
Former national long-distance champion S Sathasivam recalled that Mubarak senior introduced Sabapathy to high-level athletics after he completed his Form 5 at St Paul’s Institution where he excelled in the 100m, 200m and 400m.
He said Sabapathy made his athletics debut as a Jets Club sprinter in 1968 at a time when track and field was driven by fierce rivalry between clubs such as Jets and Lights.
Soon, he represented the nation as a reserve in the 4x400m relay at the 1970 Bangkok Asian Games where Malaysia won the bronze medal through Asir Victor, Hassan Osman, T Krishnan and K Jayabalan in 3:13.0.
Sathasivam said Sabapathy embodied the amateur spirit in terms of nurturing young athletes, and set up the Falcon Athletics Club in 2010 to coach young talents for free in Lobak here.
S Kumari Devi, who trained to be a sprinter under Sabapathy 10 years ago, said: “He made running my true passion. The joy of being coached by him and learning new ways to push my body to new heights transformed my life.”
Sabapathy is survived by his wife G Maliga and three daughters. The wake will be held at 614, Garden Avenue Seremban 2 before the cremation at the Templer Crematorium tomorrow at 1pm. - FMT
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