FORMER national runner A. Ramasamy (pic) died in Seremban yesterday. He was 75.
Ramasamy, a former national record holder in the 10,000m, was a multiple Seap Games medallist.
He had won a silver in the 10,000m at the 1969 Rangoon Seap Games and bronze at the 1971 Kuala Lumpur edition.
He later excelled in the 1,500m, winning silver at both the 1973 Singapore and 1975 Bangkok Seap Games, followed by a bronze in KL in 1977.
Former Negri Sembilan and national teammate C. Sathasivam Sitheravellu remembers Ramasamy as a soft-spoken yet tenacious competitor.
"Ramasamy was seven years my senior when I joined the Negri Sembilan team. He was soft-spoken and a pleasant person to be around," said Sathasivam yesterday.
"We used to train at the Seremban Lake Gardens, (SMK) King George V and the Sikamat Teachers Training College.
"Though we trained under top coaches such as Datuk Edwin Abraham, I had also learned a lot from Ramasamy.
"When you train together with champions, you will become a champion yourself as I won the national schools title in 1974.
"We used to compete in various road relay races together in Malaysia and Singapore, and we dominated them because all four of our runners (in the relay team) were national athletes.
"Unfortunately, Ramasamy became bedridden in his latter years and was not feeling too well recently.
"We would like to express our condolences to his family for their loss."
Sathasivam disclosed that the National Athletes Welfare Foundation (Yakeb) had helped Ramasamy with medical equipment and supplies such as a wheelchair, specialised bed and other necessities. Fadhli Ishak