PETALING JAYA: Former Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) official Yap Tee Loy was known as the 'walking dictionary' for rules and regulations in badminton.
On Friday, the 83-year-old, fondly known as 'Uncle Yap' passed away, leaving behind beloved family, friends and the badminton fraternity.
He had served as an umpire and referee at the national and international levels for more than four decades before retiring after the Malaysian Open held in 2011.
While he was strict in implementing the rules of the game, off court, Tee Loy was a bubbly gentle giant.
He would always be with a smile - and ready to share his knowledge on the technical part of the game.
Former BAM council member Datuk Roland Wong expressed his condolences.
"Sorry to year that Yap Tee Loy passed away. He was a nice person, and was always willing to help when we asked him," said Roland.
Tee Loy, who began his career as a national umpire in 1963, was already officiating tournaments the days before the Hawk-Eye system was introduced.
In fact, he facilitated the implementation of the card system to penalise players who showed bad manners on court and abused the court officials.
He is known as a fair man, often finding good solutions for disputes on court, especially on line calls.
He would be the first to arrive and last to leave at a tournament.
He was born on March 10, 1941, and served as the Kuala Lumpur Badminton Association (KLBA) secretary from 1986-1987 under the late Datuk Punch Gunalan, who was the president then.
He was a senior instructor with the Telekom Malaysia Training Centre in Jalan Gurney, Kuala Lumpur.
And as a qualified senior badminton technical official, he had served in various capacities as umpire and referee in many international badminton tournaments around the globe including in the Olympics, Asian Games, SEA Games and tournaments organised by BAM, Badminton World Federation and Badminton Asia.
Tee Loy was BAM's tournament manager as well as the officer in charge of technical officials when he joined BAM from 2000-2009.
