Sultan Azlan Shah would've been proud of 'Gemilang 1975', says Sri Shanmuganathan

N. Sri Shanmuganathan has no doubt that the late Sultan Azlan Shah would've been proud of Gemilang 1975, which is part of Astro's 'Malaysiaku' content line-up to celebrate this year's National Day and Malaysia Day.

The upcoming documentary, which is set to premiere on Astro Prima (CH 105) and Maya HD (CH 135) on September 16 at 10pm, covers the Malaysia national hockey team's success of finishing fourth at the 1975 Men's Hockey World Cup.

Ahead of the premiere, Sri Shanmuganathan credited the success to the late Sultan of Perak, who was known for his passion for field hockey.

"The Sultan means a lot to us and was the live wire behind the team. A lot of our achievements were due to his efforts," said the former national captain, who memorably scored the winning goal to knock out defending champions Netherlands in 1975.

"The Sultan as well as our late coach Datuk Ho Koh Chye would've been so proud of the documentary. I think they would've even loved to participate in it."

Despite being happy with the documentary, Sri Shanmuganathan voiced his sadness of not being able to enjoy it with some of the key members of the national team.

"This documentary by Astro is an amazing thing to happen after 43 years and I think it can help remind today's youth how unified we were as we played the game of hockey and proved to the whole world we were a team to be reckoned with.

"We are not fortunate to have our fatherly figure Sultan Azlan Shah and our coach with us anymore [to watch the documentary together] and four of us are now living overseas.

"I wish everyone could all get together. If something can be organised, perhaps we can celebrate the 45th anniversary in two years' time."