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THE 2000 Sydney Olympics is permanently engraved in my heart for many significant reasons.
First off, I was the flag bearer for the Malaysian contingent. It was quite an honour as I believed that other more noteworthy sports divisions, such as badminton and cycling, were far more deserving of this privilege.
It was a sweet surprise for me, to say the least.
The hockey division received another boost when then Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) deputy president Tan Sri P. Alagendra was awarded the role of chef-de-mission.
The fact that it was my third Olympics ─ after Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996 ─ could have been the reason I was chosen as the flag bearer.
Secondly, it was my first Olympics as captain of the hockey team.
Since I started representing the country in 1989, this Olympics marked the first time that the national hockey team was handled by a local coach in Stephen van Huizen.
Van Huizen, who replaced German Paul Lissek after the 1998 Commonwealth Games, successfully charted our path to the Sydney Olympics after we finished sixth in the Osaka qualifiers earlier that same year.
Thirdly, I celebrated my 29th birthday at the Sydney Olympics Games Village on Sept 19 together with then Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the late Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah Al-Haj. Also present was then Sports Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
At the time, interestingly enough, there was a TV commercial by Malaysian Airline System (MAS) about two kids saving money to go to the Sydney Olympics and meeting the hockey team at the airport.
Accompanying the video was the song ‘Kau Ilhamku’ by Malaysian rock star Man Bai, which we played right before we departed the Games Village for a match because it was so inspirational to us.
Last but not least, the Sydney Olympics was to be my third and final Olympics with Nor Saiful Zaini Nasiruddin.
Known as the Millennium Games or the Games of the New Millennium, the 2000 Sydney Olympics hosted its hockey tournaments from September 16 to 30.
Malaysia was in Group A, together with Pakistan, Holland, Germany, Britain and Canada while Group B was comprised of Australia, South Korea, India, Argentina, Poland and Spain.
The national squad consisted of the following players: Jamaluddin Roslan, Maninderjit Singh, Chua Boon Huat, K. Gobinathan, S. Kuhan, Nor Azlan Bakar, Chairil Anwar Aziz, Jiwa Mohan, Suhaimi Ibrahim, Madzli Ikmar, Nor Saiful Zaini Nasiruddin, Keevan Raj, Calvin Fernandez, Saiful Azli Rahman, Nasihin Nubil Ibrahim and myself. The team manager was Datuk R. Yogeswaran.
Although we did well in the group matches, it was rather unfortunate that we did not make the fifth to eighth classification matches.
In the opening match, Malaysia lost narrowly to Germany by 1-0 before holding Holland, who were the gold medallists at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, to a 0-0 draw. We then drew with Britain and Pakistan with an identical 2-2 score line before being held by Canada to a 1-1 draw.
Although we executed van Huizen’s strategy to stop the mighty Dutch from scoring, I must admit it was a boring show from Malaysia as we emphasised on defence throughout the entire match against Holland.
It must be said that Holland had a deadly penalty corner flicker in Bram Lomans and it was during the second half of this clash that Malaysia's penalty corner flicker and defender, Kuhan, suffered a nasty split mouth injury after being hit by the ball in an attempt to stop a Dutch attack.
As a result of this, Kuhan had to stop playing and was sent to the hospital. After the match, the entire team paid him a visit to cheer him up as Kuhan was subjected to a liquid diet and had to have his meals through a straw.
Kuhan missed the third match against Britain but returned for the match against Pakistan. This displayed his determination and strength of character to help the team.
Malaysia drew 2-2 against Britain, which was a great result as they had the services of feared penalty corner flicker Calum Giles.
In the subsequent match against Pakistan, it was high drama against our traditional rivals. We were all geared up for this clash and took a 2-1 lead by the 63rd minute with both goals scored by Suhaimi. Atif Bashir scored for the Pakistanis.
We were on our way to a win and a place, at least, in the fifth to eighth classification.
However, disaster struck with seconds left on the clock when we conceded a penalty corner and Solhail Abbas struck for a dramatic equaliser to make it 2-2, leaving us hugely disappointed in the end.
Malaysia's last match against Canada should have won us a place in the fifth to eighth playoffs. With a 1-1 draw, we had to wait for the outcome of the Germany and Britain match later in the day.
A draw between the Germans and British would be enough to place us fourth in the group standings to play in the fifth to eighth classification matches.
We were at the stadium to witness this clash, which was tied at 1-1 until the 65th minute when Britain was awarded a penalty corner.
As I couldn’t bear the suspense of the outcome, I made my way to the washroom where I heard cheers and knew that Britain had scored through Giles for the winner. We finished fifth in the standings as a result and played in the ninth to 12th classification matches.
By finishing third in the standings, Germany’s failure to make it to the semi-finals marked the end of Lissek's tenure with them.
Malaysia lost 1-0 to Spain but beat Poland 3-2 in the classification playoffs to finish 11th.
All said and done, I was proud to be part of the team, who gave it their all at Sydney and made my last Olympics a truly memorable one.
Stay safe, everyone. ─ The Vibes, 15 January, 2021
