I was "floating" during the Barcelona 1992 Olympics opening ceremony on July 25 at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. It was a Saturday.
Don't blame me. I had fulfilled my dream of being an Olympian at this historic and amazing city which is the capital and largest in Catalonia.
I will always cherish that memorable moment.
Prior to that, I only heard stories and their experiences from seniors Sarjit Singh, Soon Mustafa Karim and Ahmad Fadzil Zainal Abidin, who were at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
It was not a big contingent from Malaysia but still, athletes representing the country were marching with pride.
Mixing around with the United States Dream Team (basketball). Rubbing shoulders with legendary American sprinter Carl Lewis, as well. What an evening for me and the other players.
Then things like the environment at the Games Village, meeting best athletes in the world and so on. I can't forget the experience in Barcelona, which money can't buy, it was something special. And not everyone can be an Olympian.
Well, after all the excitement at the opening ceremony, our focus was back to our main purpose of being in Barcelona. That was to do well at the world's biggest Games.
Coach Terry Walsh told us not to be distracted by the activities at the Games Village.
Malaysia's main target was to finish within the "middle bracket" -- meaning fifth to eighth places. This was after the failures to make the 1988 Seoul Olympics and 1990 World Cup in Lahore.
It would be an achievement if we could finish among the top eight. Of course, we would love to be on the podium but we had to be rational, as well. With that main target in mind, we had to be well prepared for our campaign in Barcelona.
Aspects like tough training programmes, playing tournaments and useful test matches were emphasised before we left for Barcelona. I still remember, among others, a training session designed by Walsh, these physical workouts called "hell week" held over two weeks.
It was at Kilat Club Padang and National Sports Council's (NSC) outlet at Jalan Raja Muda also known as TPCA Stadium. It was torturous, needless to say. As it was during a fasting month, Walsh had water sprayed on the Muslim players to make them a bit comfortable!
I was just a step away from realising my dream of being an Olympian and could not take things for granted to be on the plane to Barcelona. This, despite being a first 11 at the qualifiers in Auckland and ended as the team's top scorer with nine goals. It was surely not a walk in a park for me.
I had to work doubly hard because all the players in the training squad also wanted to be in the squad of 16 for Barcelona. I had to impress Walsh.
Then disaster struck with only five days before we left for Barcelona. This was when our penalty corner hitter K. Embaraj, rated as one of the best in the world, injured himself in an unfortunate incident.
The players were given a five days break before leaving for Spain. The six-footer Embaraj returned to Malacca. Disaster struck when he was helping his friends move a large sheet glass, it broke on its own weight which resulted in him having a severe injury to his leg.
His muscles and ligaments were severely damaged and he bade farewell to his Barcelona Olympics dream.
Embaraj was up there with the world's deadliest penalty corners hitters like legendary Dutchman Floris Jan Bovelander, Pakistan's Khalid Bashir, India's Pargat Singh and Carsten Fischer of Germany.
Penalty corners were more direct hits then unlike nowadays where flicks are being executed.
We were devastated to learn Embaraj had met with a nasty incident. Incidentally, he was supposed to return to Kuala Lumpur with me before our departure to Barcelona.
All the players visited him at the hospital.
Embaraj was our main direct hitter for penalty corners and had been doing well. It was him who scored twice when we beat India 3-2 in Auckland via his powerful hits to book a spot for Barcelona with a match to play in the group stages.
Sarjit was employed as the finisher if the team decided to execute set-pieces for penalty corners.
However, the team employed 95 per cent direct hits by Embaraj because of his power. That showed how vital he was to the team besides being the main defender.
Embaraj was the livewire of the team off and on the pitch. He loved to crack jokes off the field to help some players to calm down players facing pressure. He got things moving on and off the pitch.
It was a big blow to the team. We had the second hitter in Nor Saiful Zaini Nasiruddin but he lacked exposure as Embaraj had been executing the hits.
Those days there was also no roll-in substitution to give some kind of chance for Nor Saiful to have the chance to do the hitting.
Deep down we knew what Embaraj could do in Barcelona but life goes on. With the professional approach, the team possessed, this was something beyond our control.
Walsh always said to expect the unexpected and find ways to remedy the problems. Deep down, we know we had given our best in Barcelona under the circumstances.
Until today, I am still thinking full potential of the squad and how far we could have gone if Embaraj was around.
And yes...It was Embaraj who gave me the nickname 'Boss'.
Pic courtesy of Mirnawan Nawawi
The squad in Barcelona comprised Ahmed Fadzil Zainal Abidin, Paul Lopez, Tai Beng Hai, S. Suria Ghandi, Lim Chiow Chuan, Sarjit Singh, Gary Fidelis, Bryan Jaya Siva, R. Shankar, Nor Saiful Zaini Nasiruddin, K. Dharma Raj, Mohamad Abdul
Hadj, Lailin Abu Hassan, Soon Mustafa Karim, M.A. Sambu and me.
Matches were at Estadi Olímpic de Terrassa in Terrassa, located 30 kilometers from Barcelona.
Germany won the gold medal after defeating Australia 2–1 while Pakistan won the bronze defeating Holland 4–3.
Malaysia was in Group B together with Pakistan, Holland, Spain, New Zealand and The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). CIS was formed when the former Soviet Union (now Russia) totally dissolved in 1991.
Malaysia lost four matches and won one in the group stages.
Group A comprised Australia, Germany, Britain, India, Argentina and Egypt.
In the classification matches, Malaysia beat Argentina and CIS to finish ninth.
I top scored for Malaysia with seven goals. The others on the scoring chart were Nor Saiful with four, Sarjit and Chiow Chuan with two each and Hadi, Bryan and Sambu with one each.
We had Puma as the official attire sponsors who came in after the success in Auckland. Interestingly these attires were custom-made. This was also a morale booster for us in Barcelona.
We also have a great chef de mission in the late Tan Sri Elyas Omar who took care of the athletes' welfare pretty well -- before, during and after the Barcelona Games.
He was of one of the best administrators, I must stress.
Our manager the late Datuk Ho Koh Chye -- a former Olympian himself, a goalkeeper and coach -- also took care of the players well. He sacrificed a lot for the players. An example of this was when he let the players sleep in the Games Village's apartment rooms, with him moving his bed to the kitchen and slept there.
To him, priority was the players who needed comfort as they prepared for those tough matches.
