You’ll be missed

PETALING JAYA: Former players and coaches paid tribute to Chow Kwai Lam, a legendary coach and ex-international, who passed away at 11am at the Ampang Puteri Hospital yesterday.

Kwai Lam, who would have turned 76 on Aug 26, was a coach with a strict and no-nonsense approach.

He previously survived a stroke but his health deteriorated since he was admitted to the hospital three days ago.

The wake service will be held at his home in Ampang today and the cremation will be conducted on Thursday.

The Negri Sembilan-born Kwai Lam, who was Malaysia’s coach for the 1978 Merdeka Tournament and the Asian Games in Bangkok in the same year, would be best remembered as the architect behind Kuala Lumpur’s hattrick of Malaysia Cup triumphs in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

His final coaching assignment with the national team was when he helmed the national pre-Olympic squad, dubbed the Barcelona Babes, but they did not qualify for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

After a second spell with Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak, the former national midfielder decided to try his luck across the Causeway, first with Tampines Rovers for a year, from mid 2002, and with Paya Lebar Punggol FC, from January 2005 to early June 2005.

Without a shadow of doubt, Kwai Lam had made a huge impact in Malaysian football as most of his former players followed in his footsteps by becoming successful coaches.

One of his proteges is none other than national Under-23 coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee. Kim Swee said he applied lessons learned from Kwai Lam in his own coaching of the Under-23 squad.

“Kwai Lam was a no-nonsense man and was very strict but he had his reasons for it. It was for the good of the team,” said Kim Swee.

“He was one of the most experienced and most successful coaches in the country.

“He made a lot of impact in my career both as a player and coach.”

“He never showed favouritism. Once, he punished me for being late to training.

“One should never be late as he will punish the offender no matter what the reasons were.”

National team assistant coach S. Balachandran, whose talent was spotted by Kwai Lam at the age of 19, would not forget the experience of being coached by Kwai Lam.

“He gave me the breakthrough when I was a teenager. He picked me for KL Cheqpoint FC team who won the FAM Cup in 1985. I’ll be eternally grateful to him for giving me a chance,” said the former international.

“He was a very successful international player. He was an idol and young players wanted to be under his wings. His training focused on high endurance so all his players were super fit.”

Former national Under-23 coach Razip Ismail said he cherished moments under Kwai Lam in KL.

“Kwai Lam gave credit to the players for KL’s success in winning the Malaysia Cup in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

“For him, coaching was his life.”

Long before his illustrious coaching career, Kwai Lam represented the national team from 1965 to 1971 and was the captain of the 1965 Merdeka Tournament squad.

Datuk M. Karathu, who was Kwai Lam’s teammate in the national team in the 60s, remembered the former defender’s long range goal in a 6-1 loss to English club Southampton in Alor Setar in 1966.

“Kwai Lam was a tenacious defender. He scored from a 35m range against Southampton,” said Karathu.

“We won the 1968 Merdeka Tournament. We were in the same batch when FIFA had their Asia Coaching course which was conducted by Bayern Munich legendary coach Dettmar Cramer at Universiti Malaya,” added Karathu, reminiscing the good old days with the late Kwai Lam.