Kolkata, Aug 14: Dr Vece Paes, a member of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games bronze-winning Indian men’s hockey team and father of legendary tennis player Leander Paes, died here on Thursday morning owing to age-related ailments. He was 80.
Paes, who was also suffering from Parkinson’s disease, was admitted to the Woodlands Hospital here on Tuesday morning.
His last rites will be performed either on Monday or Tuesday, as the family will wait for the arrival of his two daughters, who are both settled abroad.
He was married to Jennifer, a former India basketball team captain.
Paes, who donned multiple hats in his long association with Indian sports, was a mid-fielder in the Indian hockey team.
He also played several other sports such as football, cricket and rugby at the divisional level and served as the president of the Indian Rugby Football Union from 1996 to 2002.
Born in Goa in April, 1945, Paes was exceptional in both sports and academics and following his successful stint with hockey, he became a sports medicine doctor.
He went on to work as a consultant with several sports bodies including the Asian Cricket Council, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Indian Davis Cup team.
Paes was also a member of the Indian hockey team that won a bronze medal at the 1971 World Cup in Barcelona but the Olympic medal a year after that was the biggest moment of his career.
The 1972 edition of the Games is tragically also remembered for the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by a Palestinian militant group which forced a four-day shutdown of the showpiece.
After bidding adieu to his hockey career, Paes served as the team doctor of the Indian Davis Cup team for a decade and was also Leander’s manager. Leander’s initiation into tennis was on his father’s push.
Leander took Indian tennis to great heights, becoming the most successful player in the country’s history by winning 18 Grand Slam titles, including eight men’s doubles and 10 mixed doubles crowns. (PTI)
