Update: Unconcious Dollah moved from Tan Tock Seng Hospital to Ren Ci Nursing Home

According to a report in today’s edition of  TODAY, former Singapore football star Dollah Kassim has been moved from Tan Tock Seng Hospital to Ren Ci Nursing Home.

Dollah, 60, suffered a heart attack on Oct 4 during a friendly veterans game at Jalan Besar Stadium and was rushed to TTSH where he slipped into a coma. He stayed in the Intensive Care Unit for almost a month before he was released to a general ward last week.

However, he still remains in a coma, and there is still the fear that he has suffered some brain injury as a result of his heart attack.

While the move from ICU to a general ward is a positive step forward, I fear that the move to Ren Ci Nursing Home does not neccessarily indicate an improvement in his condition.

It could just mean that the doctors at TTSH feel that they have done all that they can possibly do for Dollah, and as such, there is no longer a need to stay in hospital and incur unneccessary medical expenses.

A friend of mine, a former national player who visited Dollah recently, was close to tears when he described how the coma has clearly taken a toil on Dollah. Apparently, he has lost quite a bit of weight and is looking gaunt.

Please keep Dollah and his family in your thoughts and your prayers. Please pray for his eventual recovery and for his loved ones to continue having the strength to get through this difficult period in their lives.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan

 

Seng Song needs a good 100m time at Asian C’ships to shut his critics up

It’s going to be crunch time for national sprinter Poh Seng Song at next week’s Asian Track and Field Championships (Nov 10-14) in Guangzhou, China.

The 26-year-old is part of the 12-strong Singapore contingent taking part in the meet as a final tune-up for next month’s South-east Asia Games in Laos, but he will probably be the one under the most pressure to perform.

For he has not been able to better or equal his personal best of 10.49sec this year ever since he clocked that time at last December’s Asean University Games to qualify for the SEA Games.

Since then, Seng Song’s times have hovered in the 10.80sec region. He has clocked 10.82sec (Vietnam Open), 10.81sec (Perak Open), 10.85sec (Taipei Open) and 10.85sec (Malaysia Open).

And now it seems that his precious slot in the 100m in Laos is at stake.

Some quarters in the local athletics community point to fast-improving newcomer Muhammad Elfi Musapha as a natural replacement for Seng Song. The 22-year-old has clocked 10.62sec and 10.59sec at the Perak and Taipei Opens respectively, the latter time being the fastest time clocked by a Singapore sprinter this year.

However, Elfi has yet to meet the 10.54sec timing that would immediately qualify him as a contender for the 100m slot. He, like Seng Song, is currently part of the 4×100m relay team that has been selected for the SEA Games.

So if Elfi, who is coached by Melvin Tan*, does meet the qualifying time at next week’s Asian Championships, then Seng Song’s place in the blue riband event will be under severe threat.

(There is another sprinter – Muhammad Amirudin - who has qualified for the 100m. But his place apparently seems to be under less theat as he has clocked two faster times than Seng Song this year ie 10.81sec in the Perak Open and 10.70sec at the Taipei Open).

Seng Song, who is a lecturer at ITE Simei, says that his current times should not be held against him as he is working towards peaking at the SEA Games. He also says that he was having the flu durng the Vietnam,Perak and Taipei meets.

Unfortunately, observers can always point to U K Syam’s magnificent run of improving results (he went from 10.70 sec to a new national record of 10.37sec) in the lead-up to the 2001 SEA Games as a counter-argument to Seng Song’s claims.

Whatever the case, it looks like Seng Song desperately needs to put in a good show and clock a good time at the Asian Championships just to silence his critics.

I really hope he does.

Because if he doesn’t, and if he ends up losing his place in the end, then you can kiss team unity in the 4×100m relay goodbye.

Apart from the men’s 4×100m relay squad, the other athletes competing in Guangzhou include discus throwers* Wan Lay Chi and Scott Wong, pole vaulter Rachel Yang and jumpers Michelle Sng (high) Matthew Goh (long) and Stefan Tseng (triple).

It will be interesting to see if the higher level of competition at the Asian Championships can push any of these athletes towards achieving new personal bests.

That would be a wonderful personal morale boost as they go into the final weeks before the SEA Games.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan

Note:

Some changes (indicated by an *) have been made to this blog entry to reflect factual accuracy.  I would like to thank  Speed Demon for pointing them out (see his comment below)

Tributes flow in for deceased YOG football coach David Sivalingam

Here is a compilation of tributes to the late David Sivalingam from members of the Singapore football fraternity.

They were taken from The Straits Times and The New Paper. Once again, my deepest sympathies and condolences to his family for their loss.

I hope they are able to find a little comfort in the wonderful memories that people have of him.

The tributes:

“Coach Siva is the other man I would look up to apart from my dad. I am extremely saddened by his death. I could really communicate with him and he treated all the AYG boys like his own sons. After every training, he would call our homes to make sure every player was back safe and sound. When we lost 1-4 to Thailand in the AYG, I was distraught. But coach Siva put his arm around me on the bus and told me that winning and losing is all part of this beautiful game called football. I will really miss his guidance.”

- National U-14 squad member and defender Dhukhilan Jeevamani

“Coach Siva is extremely passionate about football. Last Saturday morning, we had a COE (Centre of Excellence) league game against SAFFC (Singapore Armed Forces FC). We needed a win to go third in the table and we won 7-1. It was our biggest win of the season and we could tell how much it meant to our coach at the end of the game. He was so happy with our performance. But he also kept reminding us never to neglect our studies. He would allow us to miss training if we had exams.”

- National U-14 squad member and striker Syazwan Zin

“Siva was a coach who really knew how to blend in with the players. Even though we had went our separate ways after our Sembawang days, I remained close to him. He was such a funny character, who was always teasing the players and we felt that we could approach him to talk about anything. He had my total respect as a mentor and as a friend.”

-  National striker Noh Alam Shah who, as a rookie player at Sembawang Rangers, spent his formative years groomed by Sivalingam

“He creates such a happy mood whenever he is around and that is something we will miss in the FAS office.”

- National U-21 coach V. Sundramoorthy

“This is a sad loss for Singapore football. Sivalingam has been producing results for the youth teams. He won the Under-18 league with the National Football Academy side last year and this year, he did very well with the AYG team.”

- Lions goalkeeping coach Lee Bee Seng

He was with me for about six years in various coaching capacities. At one time, he was our first-team coach but he truly excelled in coaching the youths.”

- Teo Hock Seng, chairman, Tampines Rovers

“This is so sudden. I am so shocked. The team is very close to him. He is like a father. He has done so much for us. We are all very sad that we have lost our dear coach. He was always motivating us to perform beyond ourselves. He not only taught us how to play good football but also how to be good and responsible citizens. Whenever we did something wrong, he would never raise his voice at us. He would always take us aside and try to find out why we did what we did. He is a great person and we will miss him dearly.”

- National U-14 squad member and skipper Jeffrey Lightfoot.

Finally, here are some words from David himself which were taken from an interview in March 2009. It reveals his coaching philosophy and methods for dealing with youth footballers:

“These boys are like my children. When their parents entrust them to me, I have to look after them as they are all very young. I discipline them and make sure they don’t mix with the wrong company. When they get injured during training, I bring them to the hospital and stay with them even until 3am, make sure they’re fine. After training, I call to make sure that they have reached home safely. When students feel that we genuinely care for them, they will give of their best to the game.

- National U-14 coach David Sivalingam, RIP 1958 – 2009

Note:

David Sivalingam’s funeral is on 4 November (Wednesday). The cortege leaves at 3pm for a 3.30pm service at the Church of the Holy Trinity  in Tampines. Subsequently, it will travel to Mandai Crematorium Hall 3. The cremation is at 5pm.

Yours in sport

Singapore Sports Fan