Murdered cricket coach was a 'gentle giant' who touched the lives of many, friends say

SINGAPORE: It was cricket that brought Mr Arjun Menon and his neighbour, Mr Sean Gerard, together as friends.

When the then-teenagers met for the first time, Mr Menon had wickets in his hands. He invited Mr Gerard and his friends to play a game of cricket, and the pair would go on to play with the Singapore Cricket Association (SCA) together.

Now, it is the memories of playing cricket together that Mr Gerard, a CEO of a digital agency, holds closely to his heart.

"Arjun was the pillar of our team. He was our wicketkeeper, and you could see he was so passionate about the game," he said.

Mr Menon was murdered in his residence in Blantyre, Malawi, last Friday night (May 9).

The 48-year-old was the coach of Malawi’s national cricket team and had played five senior matches for Singapore's national team before moving to Australia in 1999.

A SMILE THAT WOULD LIGHT UP ANY ROOM

Despite spending parts of his career abroad, Mr Menon always made time for everybody, said Mr Anthony Lourdes, who is based in New Zealand and works as a residential youth worker.

The two were schoolmates in St Patrick’s School, but only got close by playing football together as part of the school's alumni team in the last ten years.

Whenever Mr Menon would visit Singapore, the group of friends would get together to play football and go out for drinks.

"Everyone always had the nicest thing to say about him, because that's how he was," he said. "Every time he walked into a room, he smiled … and he would light up any room."

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