KUALA LUMPUR: Former national hockey coach C. Paramalingam has not been forgotten by his players.
Twenty-five ex-national players visited Paramalingam at his house in Klang today,
The 87-year-old Olympian, known as Charlie, was touched by their visit.
"All my former players are like my children. It feels nice that they still remember me," said Paramalingam, who was national chief coach from 1982 to 1986.
He featured in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and three Asian Games (1958, 1962, Malaysia won bronze in Jakarta, and 1966.
Paramalingam also won the Best National Coach award in 1999.
Paramalingam's daughter, Samila Devi, thanked everyone for making this a memorable day and "making my dad proud."
Triple Olympian, Datuk Mirnawan Nawawi, said he learnt to be a calibre forward from Paramalingam.
"He's such a wonderful person and I really appreciated his dedication as a coach."
Former national player Jivan Mohan said Paramalingam was like a father to him. "He was always there to help players on and off the field. I truly appreciate his contribution."
Among the former players who visited Paramalingam were goalkeeper Zulkifli Abbas, Dr. Calvin Fernandez, I. Vickneswaran and Terry Khoo.
Paramalingam had also coached players like Yahya Atan, Sarjit Singh, Stephen Van Huizen, K. Dharmaraj, Colin Sta Maria and Kevin Nunis who went on to be national coaches.
