This work is originally published by Cahya Mata Sarawak. DayakDaily has been given permission to share this story on our platforms.
By Martin Yee, Kenny Ee, and Marlynda Meraw
BALA “Kuda” Ditta was a versatile track and field athlete—a discus thrower, a shot putter, a sprinter, and a hurdler, all rolled into one. His strong build made him a natural in sports. While excelling in all his events, it was in the highly technical discipline of the hurdles that he truly made his mark, becoming a Sarawak sports legend.
Hailing from the Kelabit Highlands, Bala was originally known as Kuda (meaning ‘horse’ in Malay). His name was changed to Bala after he married, following the customs of his native ethnic group.
“My father named me Kuda without any special meaning or reason,” he once said.
Standing at six feet tall, Bala was one of the finest athletes to emerge from Sarawak and Malaysia. His towering presence and immense talent cast a long shadow over the competition. Notably, he was the first athlete from Sarawak to qualify for the Olympic Games (Tokyo 1964).
Bala remains an enduring figure in Sarawak athletics, and many still remember him simply as Kuda. “Horse all the way” was how the Borneo Bulletin, a Brunei weekly, celebrated his victory in the 110m hurdles at one Borneo Games in 1955. Even after his passing, he continues to be revered by the Kelabit community, who built a memorial in his honour in Bario.
He dominated in the 110m hurdles in Sarawak and the Borneo Games, setting a record of 14.6 seconds in 1962. This record stood for 54 years until it was broken by a fellow Sarawakian Mohd Rizzua Haizad Muhamad, who clocked 14.54 seconds at the 18th Malaysian Games (Sukma) in Sarawak in 2016.
Besides competing at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Bala also represented Malaysia at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta and was part of the Sarawak contingent at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia in the same year. The former police inspector was also a formidable competitor in the 400m hurdles, where he often duelled with champion Salleh Wahab at the Sarawak Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) championships.
At 23, Bala joined the Police Field Force, where he excelled in various sports, including football, volleyball, and rugby. Reflecting on his start in athletics, Bala credited his commanding officer, Edward Edmid, for spotting his talent and putting him through training. Initially, Bala excelled in the throwing events, particularly discus, before American coach Thomas Rosandich convinced him to try sprinting. After a brief sprint training, Bala entered the 200m at the 1960 AAA championships, finishing a close second to the late Kadam Kiai, with both clocking sub-23 seconds.
Bala’s transition to hurdling came when British coach Tony Trail visited Kuching in the early 1960s. Trail saw Bala’s track potential and converted him into a hurdler, a move that catapulted him to national prominence.
Jong Nyan Chong, an 18-year-old hurdler who competed against Bala in his first race described him as an extraordinary athlete.
“Bala was 38-years-old, yet he still beat me convincingly,” Nyan Chong recalled.
In those early days, athletes had to make do with limited equipment. Bala remembered borrowing money from his superior, Nashatar Singh Sidhu, the national javelin champion, to buy a pair of spiked shoes, repaying the loan in instalments over two months.
Bala’s greatest disappointment came in 1968, when he missed out on the Mexico Olympics. Despite being fit at 31, he was deemed too old, and the selectors chose the younger hurdler Ishtiaq Mubarak, even though both had clocked identical times of 14.3 seconds at the Olympic trials.
Bala also recalled the heartbreak of being disqualified in the 110m hurdles at the 1962 Empire Games in Perth due to a false start and failing to qualify for the 400m hurdles semi-finals the next day with a time of 57 seconds. At the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, despite his strong form, he narrowly missed qualifying for the 110m hurdles final.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on Mexico, Bala was undeterred. He won a silver medal at the 1967 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur and a bronze at the 1973 SEA Games in Singapore. He retired from competition in 1973 but continued giving back to the sport by coaching recruits in the Police Field Force.
After retiring from both the force and coaching in December 1988, Bala passed away in Miri in 1996 from stomach cancer. His legend lives on among the sports-loving people of Sarawak, and his contributions to Malaysian athletics will not be forgotten. –DayakDaily
