From the heart of Uncle Dell of his lost of his greatest brother/my beloved father in law,Sadar Khan bin Hydar Khan. Alfatihah to Sadar Khan bt Zaiton

Passing of a true gem
By HARESH DEOL March 02, 2009 Categories: Obituaries

IT USED to be a nagging half-an-hour ride on the ever-reliable Lambretta.

Today, it is still remembered as a melodious tune by former international and former FA of Malaysia general secretary Datuk Dell Akhbar Khan who lost his beloved brother Sadar Khan yesterday.Sadar, a former international and Selangor centreback, was 66.

“We used to go for training together and he would lecture me from the time I sat on his bike till we got home,” said Dell.“He was a tough brother both on and off the field. He used to always disturb me during our younger days and was a no-nonsense defender during our playing days.”

Dell stressed his brother was a tough last man and showed no mercy when taking on opponents.

“There was a match when I was playing with Police and he was with Selangor. I tackled (Datuk M.) Chandran and he was taken off the field. Substituting him was Sadar. He made my life difficult throughout the match and was constantly on my back. He showed no mercy, even though we were brothers.”

But the bond always remained, and it was the rivalry that pushed Dell to improve his game and become an international himself.

“He was the main reason why I made it to the national team. Sadar was my inspiration.”

Sadar played for Selangor in the 1960s and in the Merdeka Tournament winning team in 1968. Starting off as a school player, Sadar went on to play in every age-group tournament before donning national colours.Among his teammates then were Chow Kwai Lam, goalkeeper Chinna Karuppan and Chandran.Kwai Lam, too, remembered Sadar as a hard player.

“He was a quiet and soft-spoken man. Just don’t make him angry-lah,” said Kwai Lam, among the large number of former Selangor and national footballers, including Datuk Ghani Minhat, Mazlan Harun and Rahim Abdullah, who paid their last respects at Sadar’s residence in Taman Keramat yesterday.

“We won the 1968 Merdeka Cup after 14 years. Thirteen players in that squad were from Selangor.

“It’s very sad for me as I’ve lost two good friends (Foo Fook Chuan and Sadar) from the 1968 squad just months apart.” Fook Chuan suffered a heart attack and passed away in January.

Sadar complained of chest pains at about 2am yesterday and his family members took him to a nearby clinic. He took some medication and managed to get some sleep an hour later. Sadar usually joined a group of neighbours for their daily morning walks. When he didn’t get down to his daily routine, the family checked on him and discovered he had passed away.

Sadar leaves behind his wife Che Nah Shamsuddin, daughter Siti Sadarina, son Rashad and three grandchildren.