Friends and family say farewell to drowned triathlete

GEORGE TOWN: Drowned triathlete Tharm Wai Weng was described as a good man and a jovial person.
His cousin, Tan Guek Hong, 52, said Kelvin, as Tharm was known by family and friends, was an only child who was very close to his mother P'ng Mee Guay, 71.
"His mother was devastated when she heard about her son's untimely death. She has never lived alone before this as she was always with Kelvin," she told theSun during Tharm's wake at Farlim Funeral Parlour in Ayer Itam.
Tharm and another triathlete, Hong Kong national Yuen Chi Yuen, 42, drowned while taking part in the 2018 Port Dickson International Triathlon on Sunday.
Also present at the wake was Penang exco for youth and sports Soon Lip Chee who said future sports events should have proper guidelines to ensure the safety of participants so that a recurrence of such a tragedy can be avoided.
"We don't want any more bad incidents like this to happen in the future, new and comprehensive guidelines must be formulated," he told reporters.
Soon said Kelvin's death was untimely and stressed that the organizer should take responsibility for the loss of the 39-year-old athlete.
Soon was accompanied by fellow DAP assemblymen Heng Lee Lee (Berapit), Joseph Hng Soon Siang (Air Itam) and Teh Lai Heng (Komtar) to pay their last respects to the deceased.
Earlier, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman had said a committee will be set up to probe the incident.
Kelvin's body was cremated at the Batu Gantung Crematorium today.