The remains of Nunis, who was known as Khairy Nunis Abdullah, were brought to the surau at Taman Segambut SSPK for the funeral rites attended by about 200 people.

They included his wife, Rahimah Awang Mohd, their three children, grandchildren, relatives, friends, colleagues and local residents, Bernama reported.

Malaysian Hockey Confederation president Subahan Kamal and National Athletes Welfare Foundation chairman Ahmad Shapawi Ismail were also present.

Subahan said the passing of Nunis was a great loss to the national hockey family.

“His services to local hockey were immense, not only as a player, but also towards the development of the sport when he was a coach for the National Hockey Development Programme,” he said.

Nunis, who was born in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, died at Hospital Kuala Lumpur at about 6.45pm yesterday after several months of treatment for blood infection.

He was part of the national hockey squad in the 1980s and represented the country at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, as well as at the Asian Games in India (1982) and South Korea (1986), and also the SEA Games in Singapore (1983), Jakarta (1987) and Kuala Lumpur (1989).

After retiring, he ventured into coaching and worked with the Terengganu and Pahang teams, before taking on the role of head coach of the National Hockey Development Programme.