Sunday, July 5, 2009

Not a forgotten sporting couple

Courtesy of Soloseeni's facebook.

I'm not so close to Arul Selvaraj but his wife K. Soloseeni was a member of the women's 4x400m relay team that bagged the gold medal in the 1997 SEA Games in Jakarta, of which I was lucky to be part of the Mailsport team comprising Tony Mariadass, Fariq Rahman and Khairulmazzaman Ghazali as the pixman.

As many are fully aware, Arul is an assistant coach with the Ireland hockey team currently involved in the Champions Challenge II in Dublin. Read our hockey expert's take here.

While Arul earns a living from the sport that gave him wonderful opportunities to explore his potential, Soloseeni works part-time as a coach at St Andrew's College.

"Here in Ireland they don't really focus on athletics much! Its rugby, hockey and cricket. So I coach the athletes more on speed, agility and running drills, the things I learned from coach the great man Pavel Litovchenko. I plan to take up IAAF Coaching couse in UCD," Soloseeni said in her FB message to me.

My only hope, this exiled couple would one day return to help uncover talent for their respective sports. Also it would be interesting whether or not their daughter Tharine inherit their sporting genes. Would it be hockey or athletics?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Encik Rizal.
Your hockey expert has got it wrong. Arul is not a forgotten man. He was ASKED if he was interested in coming back by the MHF.
Please check.
There were two reasons why this didn't happen:- 1. Arul wants to prove himself first.
2. The pay offered was much lower than what he is earning now.

Thank you

Arul said...

Dear Readers,
1. There's nothing to prove, i wanted to enhance my hockey and management knowledge.

2. I was NEVER asked to comeback by MHF.

pls don't write as you wish. Get your facts RIGHT.

Arul
(+353 86 251 9488)
a_arul6@hotmail.com