At less than 5ft 5in tall, the little giant was like a bouncy rubber ball or a graceful frog that could soar high into the air to finish off his opponents.

Despite invariably conceding height to his opponents, Boon Bee used his stocky physique to unload deadly jumping smashes, some of which were believed to be at a speed of about 400km/h.

Tan Yee Khan, whose partnership with Boon Bee endures as an epic doubles pair in world badminton history, said few could withstand his childhood friend’s trademark jumping smashes and snarling, swarming aggression.

Yee Khan and Boon Bee unleashed their destruction of the world’s top doubles pairs in the 1960s with their springing net kills, astounding net interceptions, ferocious attacks and sprightly jump smashes.

Badminton writers from that era must have used up every superlative to describe the dexterity of Boon Bee in an arresting image of him jumping over Punch Gunalan, who was his doubles partner after Yee Khan retired in 1969.

The iconic photograph was snapped during training at St Bride’s Institute for the All England badminton championships in 1971, which the top seeds won by beating Indonesia’s Rudy Hartono and Indra Gunawan 15-5, 15-3.

Former Penang state junior player Yong Soo Heong recalled that Boon Bee was a crowd-pleasing athlete whose relentless attacking approach included one of the most savage jumping smashes in badminton.

“As a young boy then, he held me spellbound because he could leap high in the air to smash the shuttle fast and furious to bedazzle his opponents.

“Yet, he played his smashes with so much grace in his usual attacking style, where sometimes he would also mix his shots with some wicked dropshots to catch his opponents on the wrong foot.

“This was because he had the advantage of height as he was already high in the air with plenty of options to deploy.

“Boon Bee could do that time and again during a blustering match because he was extremely fit,” said Yong, a former Bernama chief executive officer and editor-in-chief.

When word reached Yee Khan that Boon Bee, the national sportsman of the year in 1968, had died, he was devastated. “I feel like I have lost a part of my body,” he told FMT.

Boon Bee died from a ruptured aneurysm (an abnormal bulge or ballooning in the wall of a blood vessel) soon after he had complained of sharp stomach pains.

It happened just before he and his wife, Tong Yee Cheng, 85, were to have left on a trip to Penang from their home in Chemor, Perak.

He is the first member of the winning 1967 Malaysian Thomas Cup team, who controversially beat their arch-rivals Indonesia 6-3 in Jakarta, to pass away.

Boon Bee and the others, Yee Khan, 81, Teh Kew San, 87, Yew Cheng Hoe, 79, Tan Aik Huang, 76, and Billy Ng, 82, have always considered themselves a close family.

These were players who all had day jobs, had to take their own leave when they were chosen to represent the country, and only trained for two or three weeks before the tournament.

Both Boon Bee and Kew San named their sons Thomas, after their Thomas Cup success. Kew San’s son went on to represent Malaysia in para badminton. Boon Bee lost his lawyer son to cancer last year.

Yee Khan said he enjoyed a rich childhood and badminton life with Boon Bee, “memories which will last an eternity”.

Their family homes in Ipoh were just 200 metres from one another and they grew up during the days of badminton legends Wong Peng Soon and Eddy Choong.

Both of them studied at St Michael’s Institution and also worked as meter readers with the then Central Electricity Board (now Tenaga Nasional).

Boon Bee, the third of five siblings, began playing badminton at the age of 10 with the encouragement of his father, Ng Hor Lock, who was a postmaster.

“We had a wonderful time when he visited me about two months ago and we talked about the great times when we travelled the world, winning championships,” said Yee Khan, who runs the Seaview Hotel & Holiday Resort on Pangkor Island.

He said he was upset that Boon Bee and others from the victorious Thomas Cup team did not get more recognition for their “priceless service to Malaysian sport”.

Cheng Hoe said Boon Bee’s performances illuminated the character of Malaysians and the extraordinary possibilities of Malaysia in the 60s and 70s.

“The world has lost a great champion and I will always remember Boon Bee with respect and admiration,” he said.

Boon Bee was a triple international who represented the country in badminton, football and rugby and could have even shone in hockey, cricket and tennis, and as a 100m and 200m sprinter.

Such was his versatility that then FA of Malaysia (FAM) president Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-haj wanted him for football while then BA of Malaysia (BAM) president Khir Johari coveted him for badminton.

He chose badminton as he felt that, in football, he would not be able to progress beyond Asian standard.   He had a burning desire to be a world badminton champion.

In football, he played alongside the likes of icons Abdul Ghani Minhat, Robert Choe, V Govindarajoo and M Karathu in the late 1950s.

He was the inside-left in the Malaya team that won the Merdeka tournament three times between 1958 and 1960 before switching to badminton full-time.

In badminton, apart from winning the Thomas Cup, he scooped about 50 gold medals in men’s doubles with Yee Khan and Gunalan and in mixed doubles with Rosalind Singha Ang, Sylvia Ng and Teh Siew Yong in major championships between 1960 and 1973.

At the 1972 Munich Olympics, when badminton was a demonstration sport, he won the silver medal with Gunalan after being beaten by Indonesia’s Ade Chandra and Christian Hadinata.

When badminton became an official Olympic sport at Barcelona in 1992, Boon Bee, who won the Perak Closed tennis doubles title in 1978, was the resident tennis and badminton coach at the Ipoh Swimming Club where he also operated a pro shop.

He was awarded a datukship by the Negeri Sembilan palace in 2008 and questions were then raised as to why he did not get a title from Perak.

Tributes such as “What a hero!”, “A national treasure”, and “Intense loyalty to sport and nation” continue to flow from all across the nation for its beloved superhero Boon Bee, with the hope that his legacy will remain intact.

Boon Bee is survived by his wife and daughter Gillian.

His wake will be held at 61A, Jalan Sri Klebang 2, Chemor, Perak. The funeral will take place on Sunday at the Nirvana Memorial Park.