KUALA LUMPUR: It was a sad day for the national sports arena following the death of athletics legend Hanapiah Nasir yesterday. He was 65.
News of his demise was confirmed by National Athletes Welfare Foundation (YAKEB) chairman Datuk Noorul Ariffin Abdul Majeed, who said Hanapiah died at 6 pm at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital due to organ failure caused by leukaemia.
“Yesterday, his daughter took him to the hospital at about 4 pm and he was admitted to the intensive care unit after he was found to be suffering from low blood pressure.
“Hanapiah had leukaemia about three years ago and almost recovered after undergoing treatment. However, the leukaemia returned and caused organ failure,” he said when contacted yesterday.
The remains of the 80s national decathlon ace would be taken to the Kampung Baru Mosque and buried at the Jalan Ampang Muslim Cemetery at 9 am tomorrow.
Noorul, who last visited Hanapiah last year to present some contributions, was devastated by the athlete’s death and described it as a great loss to the country’s sporting fraternity.
Hanapiah, who was nicknamed ‘Ironman’, had contributed so much to the field of athletics in the country when he won SEA Games gold medals in the long jump (1985), 110-metre (m) hurdles (1985) and decathlon (1981 and 1983).
He also won a silver in the 4x100m event with Rabuan Pit, Sivaling Govindasamy and Nordin Jadi in 1985 and bronze medals in 110m hurdles (1983) and decathlon (1991).
He continued to be active in sports after calling it a day and even took up the post of national athletics head coach from 2005 to 2009. — BERNAMA
