Tuesday 13 February 2018
M Rajamani



#mrajamani

Between 1964 and 1968, a Malaysian sportswomen completely lit up the running track, earning her the title 'Asia's Queen of the Track'. In 1964, M.Rajamani's breakout performance in national level sports saw her representing the country at the Tokyo Olympics. It was the first time, the 21 year old Rajamani had set foot outside of the country. 

She also blazed her way to multiple gold medals at the 1965 and 1967 Southeast Asian Peninsular Games, and made history in 1966 by becoming the first Malaysian woman to win a gold medal in any sport at the Asian Games. That same year, she was awarded the inaugural National Sportswoman of the Year award; a feat she repeated the following year. 

With the 1968 Mexico City Olympics firmly set in her sights, Rajamani began training in earnest. It was during one such training session that it began to rain and Rajamani took shelter under a structure with 2 of her fellow athletes. 

3 days later, Rajamani awoke in hospital to find out that they had been struck by lightning. One training partner, did not survive the strike. Rajamani was comatose for 18 hours and suffered traumatic memory loss. At 25, the very peak of her career, Asia's Track Queen was forced to retire. She continued to contribute to the country's sports development through coaching and teaching, and today was honoured at the #beaXSuperwomanevent which celebrated 6 of Malaysia's heroic women ❤️

Text and photo by sareesandstories

#malaysianindian #malaysianindianwomen #msianindianwomen #inspiringmsianinsianwomen
Posted by The Malaysian Indian women at 02:07
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