Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: The Office Bearers and members of the Olympic Council of Malaysia wish to extend their deepest condolences to the family of Olympian Datuk Dilbagh Singh Kler, who passed away peacefully on October 19. He was 76. Datuk Dilbagh Singh Kler represented Malaysia in the 3,000m Steeplechase at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games.

Prior to that, he participated in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1962 in Perth, representing British North Borneo, and again in 1966, in Kingston, Jamaica, representing Malaysia. He was the gold medalist in the 3,000m Steeplechase at three SEAP Games from 1965 to 1969, and his record of 9 minutes 27 seconds, set in 1967, stood for 15 years.

On his retirement as an athlete in 1972, he became a coach and groomed and produced many state and national athletes in his home state of Sabah. He retired as a coach in 1988.  He also participated in Masters Athletics competitions.

Datuk Dilbagh Singh Kler leaves behind his wife, Datin Amrit Kaur, son Parvinder Singh and daughters Jaswinder Kaur and Harjinder Kaur. He is the brother of Dato’ Balwant Singh, a former athletics official and presently an international official of Triathlon.

Source: www.olympic.org.my