Former national athletics coach, C Ramanathan, had his conviction and eight year jail sentence for molesting two teenage girls overturned on appeal in the High Court today - 12 years after the alleged offence.

Ramanathan, 67, was convicted on Nov 8, 1996, and sentenced to a total of eight years jail for "outraging the modesty" of two young athletes at the Malaysia Amateur Basketball Association building in 1992.

The junior athletes, who were aged 15 and 16, were preparing for the 1992 Asian Junior Athletics Championships in New Delhi.

'Malicious prosecution'

High Court judge Abdull Hamid Embong said the sessions court which convicted Ramanathan had taken more than five years to present the grounds for the judgment and had applied the "wrong standard of proof".

Ramanathan, who has been on bail while awaiting the outcome of the appeal, was forced to retire as national coach and is unemployed.

After the appeal judgement was delivered, he thanked his lawyer Karpal Singh and "my family and friends who stood by me through these years".

Karpal said he would seek damages for Ramanathan for malicious prosecution and arrest and appealed to the National Sports Council to reinstate him in his previous post.