Ballang Lasung is dead at 57, after a five-year battle with the debilitating cancer of muscular dystrophy.
The horrible disease also killed another sports icon of Malaysia, Mokhtar Dahari, the country’s Saint of Soccer 17 years ago.
Ballang, a respected elder of the Kelabit tribe, which forms 1 per cent of Sarawak’s population, died in Kuching Hospital on April 15, 2008.
The Kelabit did Malaysia proud in the SEA Games from 1977 to 1983, winning gold medals in javelin-throwing annually.
Ballang, of Lawas, is survived by his wife Susanna Liew, 51, and two children, Sarah and Brian aged 23 and 19 respectively.
