Legendary Indian footballer O Chandrasekharan passes away

O Chandrasekharan, who played as a defender for the national team during the latter half of the golden era of India, passed away at the age of 86, on Tuesday, having suffered from dementia for a decade. The legendary footballer from Kerala, also known popularly as Olympian Chandrasekhar, was part of the Indian squad that played at the 1960 Rome Olympics, the national team’s last appearance at the grand stage.

It was in fact owing to the heroics of Chandrasekhar and his fellow defenders that the Indian team held heavyweights France to a 1-1 draw. The Kerala-based footballer was also a part of the teams which won a gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games as well as silver at 1964 Asian and third-place finishes at the Merdeka Cup (1959 and 1964).

Chandrasekhar is one of the few players to have brushed shoulders with Indian greats like PK Banerjee, Tulsidas Balaraman, Simon Sunderraj, Chuni Goswami, Peter Thangaraj, Jarnail Singh, and Mariappa Kempaiah. Incidentally, a few days ago, another member of the famous squad that featured at the 1960 Rome Olympics – SS Hakim also passed away at the age of 82.