A month after the 1-0 win in Melaka, he scored a crucial goal in Malaysia’s 3-1 defeat of Canada in the group stage at the Tokyo Olympics.

Douglas Paul Nonis, then 27, was proudly Singaporean in a magnificent Malaysian side that comprised three other players from across the causeway.

The Tokyo Olympic Games was the first and only time when Singapore competed as part of Malaysia.

The exploits of Nonis resurfaced following his death on Sunday in Singapore after a long illness at the age of 86.

Former Malaysian hockey international R Yogeswaran, 83, said Nonis was one of the best forwards in the game for his body feints and crosses.

Recalling the match against India in Melaka, Yogeswaran said Malaysia and India were going at it hammer and tongs when he set off on a run along the left flank and earned the home side a penalty corner.

He said full-back M Shanmuganathan’s shot ricocheted off the pads of the Indian goalkeeper Shankar Lakshman, and Nonis scored in his debut for Malaysia.

Yogeswaran said it was a proud moment for Malaysia as it was the first time they had beaten India in a test match, having earlier held them to a draw in Ipoh and Seremban, and losing 3-1 at the Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.

In a group match in Tokyo, Malaysia lost 3-1 to India, who went on to win the gold, while captain Mike Doraisamy and his boys finished ninth out of the 15 teams.

Doraisamy, 85, who played as centre-half in the same team, said Nonis was a “soft-spoken, humble and stylish player” who was a speedy terror on the pitch.

In the match against Canada, Nonis scored his goal in the 57th minute when both countries were tied 1-1, and happily raised his stick to the crowded stands as his teammates rushed to embrace him.

Doraisamy said the other Singaporeans in the team were second-choice goalkeeper Anwarul Haque, S Kanagalingam, originally from Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, and Kartar Singh, from Melaka.

Centre-half Kanagalingam was the last of the players from Malaysia to don Singapore colours in hockey.

Doraisamy said it was a moment of “true friendship” as the players from Singapore wore songkok and were “very Malaysian” during the opening ceremony at the Kasumigaoka National Stadium.

An inspiration on and off the field

Singapore Hockey, in a Facebook post, noted that Nonis’ “remarkable talent and dedication to the sport of hockey have left an indelible mark in the Singapore hockey scene”.

“His selection to be part of the combined Malaysian team at the 1964 Olympics was a testament to his exceptional skills.

“Being voted into the World Eleven team further solidified his status as one of the greatest hockey players of his time.”

Sportswriter Suresh Nair said Nonis was perhaps the best made-in-Singapore sporting role model, “on and off the field”, for the way he projected himself after reaching the ultimate heights of the Olympic Games.

“He never gloated over this spectacular achievement after the Olympics, which was an extraordinary multi-country feat, comparable probably to Chia Boon Leong, who wore the football jerseys of Singapore and China,” he said.

Rajan Menon, a long-time friend of Nonis, said their friendship dated back to 1975 when both of them were members of the Singapore Recreation Club.

He said Nonis was his mentor, and a multi-talented sportsman who excelled in cricket, tennis and football as well.

Menon said Nonis was among the outstanding Eurasians who, together with the likes of his younger brother Lenny, Farleigh Clarke and Gerard De Cruz, encouraged many youngsters from their community to play hockey.

Lenny, who represented his country in hockey, football, cricket, bowling and golf, died in 2021, aged 81.

Menon, 68, said that in recent years, he together with a small group of close friends looked into the well-being of Nonis, who was living alone.

Nonis will be cremated this morning in Mandai after mass at St Theresa’s Church, leaving as a sporting legend few can match in Singapore’s sporting annals.