MAN OF THE HOUR
St Paul’s Institution honours old boy and former Olympian Sabapathy
IT was a proud moment for 71-year-old Sabapathy Sinnayah when he received the Paulian of Distinction 2019 Award at the St Paul’s Institution’s (SPI) Co-Curricular Excellence Awards ceremony recently.
He received the award from SPI board of governors chairman Dr Bob Samuel as recognition for his involvement as an athlete and coach at the oldest school in Negri Sembilan.
Saba, as he is fondly known, was a member of the 4x400m quartet at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany.
The jovial Saba said: “The joy of 60 years in athletics lies in my interest and love for track events, which remains undiminished until today.
“I used to leave my (school) bag at the SPI field in the evenings in the 1960s, take a bus to 4th Mile in Labu and jog as well as stride at every quarter mile until I was back at SPI.”
Born on Nov 30, 1947, Saba was the only child in his family.
He studied at King George V Primary School (Standard One to Standard Three) and Dato Klana Makmur School (DKMS) from Standard Four to Standard Six. He studied at SPI from Form One to Form Five.
His first taste of athletic competition was as a sprinter — in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m — for DKMS at the Seremban District Schools Championships.
Being a late bloomer in athletics, Sabapathy was introduced to the sport by the late Mubarak Ahmad, the father of the late national hurdler Ishtiaq Mubarak.
After completing school, Saba stayed with the Mubarak family and accompanied Ishtiaq for training sessions at the Police Depot in Selangor.
Saba resumed his athletics career with the Jets Athletics Club before going on to represent Selangor and Malaysia in sprint events.
“As part of our 1972 Olympic Games preparation, Ishtiaq and I landed on the east coast of the USA in New York and drove to all the way to Los Angeles on the west coast.
“We were trained by former Malaysian coach, Robert Keyser “Bob” Schul of the United States, who was the 5,000m champion at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics,” said Saba.
The 1972 Games was his only Olympic outing, compared to the three his good friend Ishtiaq took part in — running in the 110m hurdles in Mexico (1968), Munich (1972) and Montreal (1976).
Saba, meanwhile, also won gold in the 4x400m at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1970; 4x100m at the 1971 Malaysian Open; 400m at the Allcomers meet in Stuttgart, West Germany in 1972; and the 4x400m at the Seap Games in Singapore in 1973.
He also coached the United Asian Bank, Federal Territory Amateur Athletics Association, Selangor State Sports Council and National Sports Council between 1985 and 2008.
As for his alma mater, he held the 100m, 200m and 400m records in his schooldays in the 1960s and recently coached SPI from 2016 to 2017.