Cunagasabai Kunalan
Written by admin on October 9th, 2009Cunagasabai Kunalan was a former Singapore sprinter whose sprinting accomplishment in the 60’s and 70’s saw him achieving two Olympics participations, five Asian Games and nine Southeast Asian Peninsular Games medals. He will always be much remembered for his men’s 100m record of 10.38 seconds which stood firm for 33 years before being broken in 2001. He has a personal best of 10.38 seconds in the 100m, 21.3 seconds in the 200m and 47.9 seconds in the 400m events.
Kunalan started running quite late and retired early when a heel injury halted his true potential. There have been notions raised by the media if he could probably have achieved much more if he were to start running much earlier than discovering it at the age of 21 years old, or the fact if his Achilles injury hadn’t forced him to retire at the age of 28 years old from sprinting during the end of 1970 when he was at the peak of his prime.
Kunalan first love was actually soccer and not running. He was first discovered by Tan Eng Yoon who became his coach when he was studying at the old Teachers’ Training College. Kunalan was then involved in Singapore Teachers’ Union soccer team and Tan Eng Yoon, who was the national coach then, noticed a potential when he saw Kunalan exhibited raw speed and quick cadence when he was playing soccer. Tan was able to persuade Kunalan to switch sports and immediately he saw results. Kunalan’s maiden foray in athletes back in 1963 saw him clocking 10.9 seconds for the 100m, 22.3 seconds for the 200m and 50.9 seconds in the 400m after only four months of training.
C. Kunalan continued to break records and in that same year, the fledgling sprinter was already a national record holder for the men’s 4×100m event. He was part of the team which comprised of Low Sin Chock, Cedric Monteiro and Wong Fey Wan that smashed and lowering the old mark of to a new time of 42.0 seconds at the Malayan All-Comers.
His training ground before the Kallang national stadium was built, was the Farrer Park stadium. It was a centralised stadium for national athletes preparing for international meets such as SEAP Games, now known as SEA Games. Before the National Stadium’s tartan track was built, Kunalan trained and competed on cinder tracks, which can prove to be a sticky situation as on rainy days it turned mud-like.
The following year after he started running, he was already making a name for himself as a sprinter. Kunalan don the national colors when he was thrusted his first ever Olympic appearance. He was running under the Malaya flag, a combined federated state of East/West Malaysia and Singapore. His sprinting debut at the 18th Tokyo Japan in 1964 saw his 4×100m relay team eliminated in the first round. The team comprising of Hamzah Maklan, John Dukom, and M. Jegathesan finished in a time of 41.4 seconds. A name among the relay team members was the legendary Mani Jegathesan who was Kunalan’s training partner, although good friends, he will prove to be his fierce rival on the track.
As Singapore found independence in 1965 and separated from Malaya. Kunalan opted to run for Singapore while his training partner Mani Jegathesan chose Malaysia. That year, it was the start of winning nine SEAP Games medal in the coming years. Kunalan took part in the 3rd edition of the SEAP Games in Kuala Lumpur and he ran the 4×100m men’s relay team, getting silver with a team comprising of Osman Marican, Natahar Bava and Wong Fey Wan, finishing in a time of 41.5 seconds.
Kunalan set his sights higher when he prepared for the 1966 Asian Games which was held in Bangkok, Thailand, but he came agonizingly second to his friend Malaysia’s M. Jegathesan in a close photo finish in the men’s 100 finals. He had to settle for silver (10.5 seconds). He left the Games with another medal and that is a bronze from the men’s 4×400m event. The team of Bava Natahar, Gunasena Migale and Ho Mun Cheong earned a bronze when they clocked 3:14.40 in the finals.
The next major meet was to be the 4th SEAP Games in Bangkok in 1967. Once again Cunagasabai Kunalan had to settle for silver in his pet event, the 100m and 200m. He clocked 10.6 seconds and 21.8 seconds respectively. Gold eluded him once again when his men’s 4×100m relay team of Yeo Kian Chye, Wong Fey Wan and Natahar Bava, finished second best for silver (41.3 seconds). Kunalan also ran in the men’s 4×400m relay event, and it also didn’t fair much better for him as the team of Natahar Bava, Mun Cheong Ho and Gunasena Migale could only managed a bronze (3:20.50)
By now, the 25 year old Kunalan was becoming an experienced runner, with plenty of local and overseas races under his belt. He was one of the top sprinters in the Asian region and that potential showed when he was sent for his second Olympic appearance. At the 1968 Mexico Games, he reached as far as the 100m Quarter-Finals clocking 10.38 seconds, which stood as the national record for 33 years. His 200m timing of 21.3 seconds, which was ran in the round one qualification also earned him a new Asian Games 200m record.
Kunalan best running year would probably be in 1969. In the 5th edition of SEAP games in Rangoon, Burma, he swept the individual and relay accolades by winning 3 gold in the blue ribbon events of 100m, 200m and 4×400m relays. He clocked 10.5 seconds in the 100m and 21.3 seconds in the 200m finals. His timing in the 200m event equaled his Asian Games record. The 4×400m relay team of Cheah Kim Teck, A Sadayappan and Ho Mun Cheong finally grabbed gold (3:15.40). The only medal outside of the gold tally was a bronze in the 4×100m relay event. Andrew Chee, Yeo Kian Chye and Aminuddin Kassim time of 41.4 seconds could only settle for third spot.
The soft-spoken Kunalan, by now a sprinting sports icon, was deservedly awarded Singapore Sportsman of the Year in 1968 & 1969 for his commendable performances in the SEAP, Asian and Olympic games. He was just 27 years old and the peak of his prime, but he was beginning to get injured persistently, taking much of his time away from training and competing.
Through the pain and juggling work as a teacher, he competed in his last major international meet. It was the 6th Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand. Kunalan managed to grab two bronzes in the men’s 100m and 200m event with a time of 10.5 and 21.5 seconds respectively. The relay team also did well by grabbing honors with a bronze. The team comprising of Ong Yoke Phee, Tan Say Leong, Yeo Kian Chye and Godfrey Jalleh clocked 40.34 seconds.
At the end of 1970, Kunalan retired from sprinting as his heel injury was persistent. That new chapter in his life brought him into coaching. He was a successful athlete and in a few short years, he became a successful coach too. He groomed future Singapore sprinters of the 80’s such as Muhd Hosni, Mona Kunalan, Hamkah Afik and Yusof Alias.
In 1973 SEAP Games when Singapore hosted the event, he was invited to be the torch-bearer during the opening ceremony. Cunagasabai Kunalan life outside of running was primarily teaching. He started out with just three O’levels and initially taught in a primary school for six years before moving to another 13 years in secondary school. In 1980 he joined the Institute of Education, where he rose through the ranks to become an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education. He is still there.
His lectures and areas of expertise include functional anatomy, exercise physiology, Track and Field, health education and fitness and conditioning. He is also still active in the local athletics circle and is now a Singapore Youth Olympic Games Advisory Committee Members and part of the Singapore National Olympic Council Anti-Doping in Sports Commission as Secretary.
Kunalan has three daughters, Soma, Mona and Gina and he is married to Chong Yoong Yin, she herself was a former national sprinter. All three daughters undertook teaching profession, but only Mona took up running like her father. Kunalan also has two grandchildren, Jasmine and Amber who are in Australia.
By: Uncle Sha
About the Author:
Kunalan started running quite late and retired early when a heel injury halted his true potential. There have been notions raised by the media if he could probably have achieved much more if he were to start running much earlier than discovering it at the age of 21 years old, or the fact if his Achilles injury hadn’t forced him to retire at the age of 28 years old from sprinting during the end of 1970 when he was at the peak of his prime.
Kunalan first love was actually soccer and not running. He was first discovered by Tan Eng Yoon who became his coach when he was studying at the old Teachers’ Training College. Kunalan was then involved in Singapore Teachers’ Union soccer team and Tan Eng Yoon, who was the national coach then, noticed a potential when he saw Kunalan exhibited raw speed and quick cadence when he was playing soccer. Tan was able to persuade Kunalan to switch sports and immediately he saw results. Kunalan’s maiden foray in athletes back in 1963 saw him clocking 10.9 seconds for the 100m, 22.3 seconds for the 200m and 50.9 seconds in the 400m after only four months of training.
C. Kunalan continued to break records and in that same year, the fledgling sprinter was already a national record holder for the men’s 4×100m event. He was part of the team which comprised of Low Sin Chock, Cedric Monteiro and Wong Fey Wan that smashed and lowering the old mark of to a new time of 42.0 seconds at the Malayan All-Comers.
His training ground before the Kallang national stadium was built, was the Farrer Park stadium. It was a centralised stadium for national athletes preparing for international meets such as SEAP Games, now known as SEA Games. Before the National Stadium’s tartan track was built, Kunalan trained and competed on cinder tracks, which can prove to be a sticky situation as on rainy days it turned mud-like.
The following year after he started running, he was already making a name for himself as a sprinter. Kunalan don the national colors when he was thrusted his first ever Olympic appearance. He was running under the Malaya flag, a combined federated state of East/West Malaysia and Singapore. His sprinting debut at the 18th Tokyo Japan in 1964 saw his 4×100m relay team eliminated in the first round. The team comprising of Hamzah Maklan, John Dukom, and M. Jegathesan finished in a time of 41.4 seconds. A name among the relay team members was the legendary Mani Jegathesan who was Kunalan’s training partner, although good friends, he will prove to be his fierce rival on the track.
As Singapore found independence in 1965 and separated from Malaya. Kunalan opted to run for Singapore while his training partner Mani Jegathesan chose Malaysia. That year, it was the start of winning nine SEAP Games medal in the coming years. Kunalan took part in the 3rd edition of the SEAP Games in Kuala Lumpur and he ran the 4×100m men’s relay team, getting silver with a team comprising of Osman Marican, Natahar Bava and Wong Fey Wan, finishing in a time of 41.5 seconds.
Kunalan set his sights higher when he prepared for the 1966 Asian Games which was held in Bangkok, Thailand, but he came agonizingly second to his friend Malaysia’s M. Jegathesan in a close photo finish in the men’s 100 finals. He had to settle for silver (10.5 seconds). He left the Games with another medal and that is a bronze from the men’s 4×400m event. The team of Bava Natahar, Gunasena Migale and Ho Mun Cheong earned a bronze when they clocked 3:14.40 in the finals.
The next major meet was to be the 4th SEAP Games in Bangkok in 1967. Once again Cunagasabai Kunalan had to settle for silver in his pet event, the 100m and 200m. He clocked 10.6 seconds and 21.8 seconds respectively. Gold eluded him once again when his men’s 4×100m relay team of Yeo Kian Chye, Wong Fey Wan and Natahar Bava, finished second best for silver (41.3 seconds). Kunalan also ran in the men’s 4×400m relay event, and it also didn’t fair much better for him as the team of Natahar Bava, Mun Cheong Ho and Gunasena Migale could only managed a bronze (3:20.50)
By now, the 25 year old Kunalan was becoming an experienced runner, with plenty of local and overseas races under his belt. He was one of the top sprinters in the Asian region and that potential showed when he was sent for his second Olympic appearance. At the 1968 Mexico Games, he reached as far as the 100m Quarter-Finals clocking 10.38 seconds, which stood as the national record for 33 years. His 200m timing of 21.3 seconds, which was ran in the round one qualification also earned him a new Asian Games 200m record.
Kunalan best running year would probably be in 1969. In the 5th edition of SEAP games in Rangoon, Burma, he swept the individual and relay accolades by winning 3 gold in the blue ribbon events of 100m, 200m and 4×400m relays. He clocked 10.5 seconds in the 100m and 21.3 seconds in the 200m finals. His timing in the 200m event equaled his Asian Games record. The 4×400m relay team of Cheah Kim Teck, A Sadayappan and Ho Mun Cheong finally grabbed gold (3:15.40). The only medal outside of the gold tally was a bronze in the 4×100m relay event. Andrew Chee, Yeo Kian Chye and Aminuddin Kassim time of 41.4 seconds could only settle for third spot.
The soft-spoken Kunalan, by now a sprinting sports icon, was deservedly awarded Singapore Sportsman of the Year in 1968 & 1969 for his commendable performances in the SEAP, Asian and Olympic games. He was just 27 years old and the peak of his prime, but he was beginning to get injured persistently, taking much of his time away from training and competing.
Through the pain and juggling work as a teacher, he competed in his last major international meet. It was the 6th Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand. Kunalan managed to grab two bronzes in the men’s 100m and 200m event with a time of 10.5 and 21.5 seconds respectively. The relay team also did well by grabbing honors with a bronze. The team comprising of Ong Yoke Phee, Tan Say Leong, Yeo Kian Chye and Godfrey Jalleh clocked 40.34 seconds.
At the end of 1970, Kunalan retired from sprinting as his heel injury was persistent. That new chapter in his life brought him into coaching. He was a successful athlete and in a few short years, he became a successful coach too. He groomed future Singapore sprinters of the 80’s such as Muhd Hosni, Mona Kunalan, Hamkah Afik and Yusof Alias.
In 1973 SEAP Games when Singapore hosted the event, he was invited to be the torch-bearer during the opening ceremony. Cunagasabai Kunalan life outside of running was primarily teaching. He started out with just three O’levels and initially taught in a primary school for six years before moving to another 13 years in secondary school. In 1980 he joined the Institute of Education, where he rose through the ranks to become an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Education. He is still there.
His lectures and areas of expertise include functional anatomy, exercise physiology, Track and Field, health education and fitness and conditioning. He is also still active in the local athletics circle and is now a Singapore Youth Olympic Games Advisory Committee Members and part of the Singapore National Olympic Council Anti-Doping in Sports Commission as Secretary.
Kunalan has three daughters, Soma, Mona and Gina and he is married to Chong Yoong Yin, she herself was a former national sprinter. All three daughters undertook teaching profession, but only Mona took up running like her father. Kunalan also has two grandchildren, Jasmine and Amber who are in Australia.
By: Uncle Sha
About the Author:
Learn More Of Singapore Athletics History
Tags: Achilles Injury, Foray, Playing Soccer