KUALA LUMPUR: Hockey icon and former crimebuster Tan Sri P. Alagendra has added another feather to his cap.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Olympians Association (WOA) accorded him a pin and certificate, signed by WOA president Joel Bouzou recently.
The award, handed over to him by the Malaysian Olympians Association (MOA), entitles him to use the post-nominal letters ‘OLY’ after his name.
Hence, Alagendra, who is fondly referred to as ‘Aly’, can now be called ‘Oly’ as well!
Alagendra said: “I would not have lived any other way. I still continue to believe in the magic of sports!
“For without sports, life will be a dull affair. Imagine, living in a world without sports.
“You get up in the morning, go to work, return home, have your dinner and then sleep.
“Life will be so monotonous,” said Alagendra, who was part of Malaya’s first Olympic contingent of 34 athletes in Melbourne in 1956.
Freddie Vias and Alagendra are the last surviving members of the 1956 Olympic team.
Alagendra, who retired as Selangor’s police chief in 1984, recounted how he was spurred to excel in sports by his superiors.
He said former Inspector-General of Police Tun Salleh Ismael, the country’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra and the late Sultan of Perak Sultan Azlan Shah were great sports lovers.
“It was through sports that I managed to forge a closer rapport with such luminaries, who often invited me to accompany them to great sporting events like the World Cup and Olympics.
“We shared many great moments together,” which I am privy with and privileged,” said Alagendra, who was also involved in five other Olympic Games either as a national coach, manager, event judge or chef de mission.
“Sports helped unify a young multi-racial nation during its trying times after Independence (from Britain in 1957).
“To me, sports is the biggest gift in life. It helped mould us into good characters. So enjoy it,” said Alagendra, who will turn 90 on July 23.
On Malaysians who had competed in the Olympics, Alagendra said they were ‘worth their weight in gold’.
“It is a great honour to be an Olympian because participation in the Games represents the pinnacle of sporting achievement.
“The Olympics are held only once every four years and less than 10,000 of the world’s finest athletes are selected to compete.
“I feel proud to have represented the country at several Olympics in different capacities,” said Alagendra.
He coached the 1964 Tokyo Olympic team and was appointed team manager of the 1968 Mexico and 1986 Montreal teams.
He was also an FIH judge for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and Malaysia’s chef-de-mission to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The MOA have a special place in Alagendra’s heart as he was the founding president of the association.
“In 2001, I received a call from (the then Olympic Council of Malaysia president) Tunku Imran (Tuanku Ja’afar) to form an association for Olympians in Malaysia. I jumped at that noble idea.
“I did not know then that OCM had already made several attempts to do it and failed,” said Alagendra.
He added that the Registrar of Societies (RoS) had refused registration and the newly-established Sports Commissioner’s Office had said the association could not be registered under the Sports Act.
“Nevertheless, I got together a few Olympians like fencing maestro Ronnie Theseira, athletic giant Nashatar Singh, hockey legend Ho Koh Chye and cycling golden boy M. Kumaresan.
“I remember that a little later, swimmer Jeffrey Ong, Datuk R. Yogeswaran and taekwando’s M. Vasugi also joined us.
“We formed an ad hoc committee, drafted a constitution, got letters of support from OCM, the Sports Minister and the IOC to meet RoS officials,” said Alagendra.
After a few meetings, he added, the RoS approved their application and the MOA were registered in 2002. It turned out that registering the association was the easier part.
“We now had a registered association but not many registered members and no money.
“Without a register of Olympians and contact details, the going was tough.
“But we persisted and slowly started organising activities,” he said.
Meanwhile, MOA president Lt Cdr (Rtd) Karu Selvaratnam regards Alagendra as a sporting legend.
“He has played hockey at the highest level and in the first Olympics the country took part in.
“His accomplishments are many and it may take me the whole night to name them.
“Alagendra is a gentleman, sportsman and an officer,” said Karu after presenting him the pin and certificate at a simple ceremony at Alagendra’s home at Taman Titiwangsa.
Present were Olympians Datuk R. Yogeswaran, Datuk Poon Fook Loke, Nor Saiful Zaini, M.A. Sambu, Noraseela Mohd Khalid and MOA founding secretary M.P. Haridas.
Also present were Alagendra’s wife, prominent criminal lawyer Puan Sri N. Saraswathy Devi, and daughters Raja Rajesvari and Anna Poorani, and his grandchildren Arjuna Alagendra Sen, M. Gayathri Divya Alagendra and M. Tara Thanushka Ahilya Alagendra.