KUALA LUMPUR: Olympian Datuk Thambu Krishnan died today in Penang after a short illness. He was 79.
Thambu represented Malaysia in the 400m at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Thambu son K.Ganesh, who is a lecturer at Monash University College in Bandar Sunway, said his family are in a shock as two weeks ago he was normal without any indication of serious illness.
Thambu was part of the 4x400m quartet, also comprising Asir Victor, P. Rengan and A S Nathan, who won a silver medal at the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok.
He was also won several medals in the SEAP Games.
Perak Athletics Association president Datuk Karim Ibrahim said Thambu was a dedicated athlete and had contributed to the state and country as an athletics coach.
"Thambu was involved in helping both the Penang state sports council and the National Sports Council (NSC) in coaching programmes.
"He was a school teacher, who retired as a headmaster of SJK Tamil in Perai, Penang.
"His son Ganesh was a Penang state hockey player and was called up for national training," said Karim.
Cremation is scheduled tomorrow at 1.30pm at the Bukit Mertajam Cremation in Brapit.