KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian athletics has lost one of its most experienced coaches with the death of Tang Choo Mong yesterday.
Choo Mong suffered from heart complications. He was 77.
He started his coaching career in the 1970s and had coached the Perak team until the end of last year.
Among the athletes he groomed were Perak high jumpers Lou Chew Peng and Loo Kum Zee. Kum Zee won multiple gold medals at the SEA Games and still holds the games record of 2.24m, which he set at the 1995 Chiang Mai games.
Choo Mong was presented with the Sports Leadership Award during the 2015-2016 Perak State Sports Awards.
Respected sports administrator Datuk A. Vaithilingam said Choo Mong had contributed a lot to the sport.
"He started his coaching career in the early 1970s," said Vaithilingam.
"Choo Mong was then in the National Schools Sports Council (MSSM) athletics coaching panel. Later he headed the Perak AAA coaching revival and was a leading jumps coach at the national level.
"He was proud to be able to help national athletes win gold medals in competitions but he was shy and never sought publicity."
Johor state coach Simon Lau said it was sad to lose a great coach who devoted his life to the development of track and field.
"He was a very patient person who loved coaching. Although he was already old, he was still passionate about coaching his athletes," said Simon.
"I salute him for continuing to coach for almost five decades. He did all he could to help improve the standard of athletes at school, state as well as national level."
Choo Mong was among the coaches who voice their concerns when six women's events were dropped from the Malaysia Games last year as they did not meet the minimum number of participants required. The events were later reinstated.