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82-year-old sporting legend who’s hero to little athletes

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Karu Selvaratnam’s appetite for sports has not waned and his current role as the lynchpin of kids’ athletics has been outstanding.

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Free Malaysia Today
More than 100 children attend athletics training provided for free by Karu Selvaratnam’s sports entity. (YTTF pic)

PETALING JAYA:
Malaysian sporting great Karunakarer Selvaratnam celebrates his 82nd birthday today as a hero of kids’ athletics.

At an age when many are content to sit and reflect, the double international rules as a leader of grassroots athletics and as a consummate game-changer in talent development.

His little athletics entity, Young Talent Track & Field (YTTF), signifies the spirit of junior development.

It provides training for free to more than 100 children, aged under 12, and to differently-abled youths, every Saturday and Sunday at Ipoh Padang.

Free Malaysia Today
Karu Selvaratnam.

Since the launch of the programme five months ago, great things have happened for YTTF under his leadership.

Two athletes and a coach from the organisation have been selected to represent Malaysia at the Special Olympics World Games for persons with intellectual disabilities in Berlin in June.

They are Perak’s Nur Ameer Muqsiq Baharuddin, 18, (100m, long jump, 4x100m relay), Nurasliza Mohd Sapri, 17, (shot put, javelin, 4x100m relay) and their coach, Manogaran Selvanayagam.

The head of the Malaysian contingent to the games is Dr Sivanesan Govindasamy, who is an adviser to YTTF’s Perak chapter, president of Special Olympics Perak and deputy president of Special Olympics Malaysia.

“Their participation in the Special Olympics is a great gift for my birthday,” said Karu, as he is known, with a sparkle in his eyes.

The Olympian has helped build a social elevator for young people and their parents to connect with his communal sporting initiative.

The ramrod-straight and dapper octogenarian has done that since last September along with the other unsung volunteers in YTTF.

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Coach Nadia Borhan teaching kids the basics of athletics. (YTTF pic)

YTTF is a private enterprise focused on inspiring, developing and supporting children through sport.

Coaches teach kids to experience athletics, which as a foundation sport, gives them confidence in their physical abilities.

They also instil positive attitudes in them such as the importance of a healthy mind and body, all while having fun.

“Seeing kids taking up sports, and feeling better about themselves, brings enormous joy to us,” Karu said.

“The success of the programme, the enthusiasm of the children to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle, and parental support is another wonderful birthday gift for me.”

He said equally heartening was the desire of the main sponsor redONE, a mobile virtual network operator, and well-wishers to get children out there, and get moving.

Karu, who is YTTF chairman, said: “I would also like to raise a glass to the coaches and administrators who, as former athletes, have put so much back into sport.

“They have gone out in all weathers to dedicate their time freely to motivate and coach the little ones, including those who thought they could never run a lap.”

He said YTTF will host a little athletics championship in Ipoh in March for its trainees to get a feel of competition, to understand the value of a handshake, win or lose, and to relish in friendships.

“Such events will also help build communities of sport-loving parents and children, and bring people together.

“Grassroots development is vital to communities and failure to provide for it will see the next generation of athletes lost,” he said.

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YTTF trainees practising for the little athletics championship in Ipoh in March. (YTTF pic)

YTTF has also joined hands with Malaysian Hash Council and Kelab PJ to take kids’ athletics to Selangor by mid-year.

Karu said it was the basic right of children to have access to sports and similar programmes would be introduced in marginalised communities as well.

YTTF CEO Danny Sritharan said Karu’s guidance has earned the organisation wide respect among the public and sports bodies.

“We are honoured to have a high-spirited mentor like Karu whose exemplary leadership has motivated us to work hard to transform our athletes into future internationals,” he said.

From waterboy to Olympian

Karu’s sporting life offers a snapshot of a different time when the eagerness of a teacher to spot talent knew no bounds.

Many of us will remember the person who first encouraged us to pick up a hockey stick, or spotted that spark of talent at school sports day.

For Karu, it was his teacher Rasa Durai who gave him his first taste of track competition when he was a waterboy during the Ipoh Anglo-Chinese School sports meet in 1955.

Rasa Durai was desperate for someone to replace an injured runner in the 4×400 yards relay for Tagore house. Lanky Karu, who had never run a race before, was his choice.

Running two rounds around the 200m grass track as the second runner, he gave his team a five-yard lead. They won the race, and Karu got his first athletics medal.

Free Malaysia Today
Karu Selvaratnam was an awe inspiring multi-sports star and shone in the 400m and the 400m hurdles. (Karu Selvaratnam pic)

The waterboy would go on to run at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in the 400m hurdles, three years after making his international debut at the SEAP Games in Rangoon where he won the gold medal in the same event.

He was the national champion over the 400m and the 400m hurdles from 1961 to 1965. His national record of 52.7s in the hurdles stood for almost 25 years.

Back then, national meets were run over two days and team managers made athletes run several events to score points for the state to win the championships.

Karu said he had to run six to seven races of 400m in the two days.

“In the 400m hurdles, there were the heats and final, in the 400m flat, there were the heats, semi-finals and final, and in the 4x 400m relay, the heats and final,” he said.

He showed elite talent in several sports simultaneously and became the only man to be made the national captain of athletics and cricket.

The former Navy man also played competitive hockey, football, badminton and golf, and was also Armed Forces champion bantamweight (53.5kg) boxer.

Batu Gajah-born Karu wore the colours of Perak, Johor, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur and Armed Forces during his sporting career from 1957 until 1992.

He not only became an Olympian as a 23-year-old, and played cricket for Malaya at 19, but devoted himself to sports for possibly longer than anyone in Malaysian sporting history.

The awe inspiring multi-sports star, who served in the Navy until he retired with the rank of lieutenant commander, helped shape Malaysian sports over six decades.

He did that with selfless dedication as an athlete, coach, manager, official and as the former president of the Malaysia Olympians Association.

His close friends said he never sought any handouts, and only wished to see those he supported achieve success.

As an embodiment of the amateur spirit, Karu should be promoted as an inspiring Malaysian and his story should be mandatory reading for today’s sporting ‘heroes’.

What a pity, then, that Karu has not been honoured with a Datukship.

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