Courtesy: The Malay Mail


Friends want to win futsal matches in Ab Aiman's memory

Friday, March 11th, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR: A futsal team bade farewell yesterday to their striker, who was killed when he came in contact with a snapped electrical cable in Jalan Pahang, and pledged to go on winning tournaments in his memory.

Ab Aiman Mohammad, 24, was a die-hard Liverpool FC fan and some of his teammates, who are also ardent supporters of the Reds, said they would watch the team’s remaining matches in the Barclays Premier League “as if he is still with us”.

Close friend Kamal Amirul Kamaruzaman, 23, said Ab Aiman, who “talked more football than anything else”, had written in his last posting on Facebook: "3-0 ... yeah!!!!! hat-trick from kuyt ... awesome performance from suarez”.

Ab Aiman had been still talking about Liverpool's victory over Manchester United on his way to a futsal match at Bandar Sunway when tragedy struck at 10.30pm on Wednesday.

“Our futsal team is all about bonding and Aiman was the livewire whom we will miss greatly,” Kamal told The Malay Mail.

Although Kamal is an MU supporter he said: "This rivalry never kept us apart as friends, even after Sunday’s match when Liverpool beat the Red Devils.

“All the while I've known him, he was a nice and easy-going bloke. We never got involved in any serious quarrel. Well, if we argued, it was about football.”

Kamal got to know Ab Aiman when both of them joined the Graduate Employability Management Scheme (Gems) training conducted by a government-owned company.

“I was a graduate from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) while he graduated from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and we met during that programme.

Even then, he already showed his interest in football and always defended Liverpool although he kept getting mocked by other football friends.”

After they completed their training, Kamal was placed in a plantation firm in the city and Ab Aiman became a call-centre executive for VADS Bhd. They met for regular futsal matches.

On Wednesday night, Ab Aiman was on his motorcycle with Kamal as the pillion rider when he was struck by a snapped electrical cable hanging across Jalan Pahang.

"I was thrown off the motorcycle after Ab Aiman hit the cable. The impact was really painful," said Kamal, who is recovering from a minor injury but still traumatised by the incident.

Hilal Azmi, 24, said he was not close with Ab Aiman but they still saw each other often in the futsal court.

“We would usually hang out at the futsal court in Jalan Air Panas, Setapak and we sometimes played at Ampang Sportsplanet near Ampang Point. He really admired Liverpool, especially when we had our post-match discussions on BPL matches held over the weekend.”

Ab Aiman’s remains were taken for burial in his hometown in Bachok, Kelantan, by his family yesterday.


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com