Footballer O Chandrasekharan, who represented India in Rome and Tokyo Olympics (1960 and 1964) is no more. He passed away on Tuesday at Kochi at the age of 86.
A contemporary of legendary Indian footballers like P K Banerjee, Chuni Goswamy, Jarnail Singh Dhillon, Peter Thangaraj, T Balaram, and Mariappan Kempiah, Chandrasekharan played for India in the 1960 Rome and 1964 Tokyo Olympics and since then he was addressed as Olympian Chandrasekharan.
He was the member of the Indian teams that won the gold medal in the 1962 Asian Games and the silver medal in the 1959 Merdeka Cup tournament held at Malaysia. The Indian team in which he was a member won the silver medal in the 19645 AFC Asian Cup.
“Chandrasekharan was a sturdy defender who could tackle the movements of any forwards,” late PK Banerjee used to tell while recalling their “good old days” in the maidans.
“He was the first professional footballer from Kerala to hog the national limelight. Chandrasekharan donned colours for Caltex SC during 1956 to 1966 and State Bank of India from 1966 to 1973. He wore the country’s colours from 1958 to 1966, and could be rated as the best defender of the golden era of Indian football,” said Rufuz d’Souza, former WIMCO and SBI player who has played with Chandrasekharan in many tournaments. Rufuz (86), known as Football Uncle, said it was a treat watching Chandrasekharan tackling and dribbling. “I am yet to see a player of his calibre anywhere in the country,” reminiscences Rufuz, who coaches Santos FC of Fort Kochi.
Though Chandrasekharan settled down at Kochi after retirement, the Kerala Government or the faction ridden Kerala Football association failed to make use of his services to strengthen the game in the State. Chnadrasekharan was a regular presence in the VIP pavilion of Maharajas College Maidan during all national and international football events held at Kochi. This writer had interacted with him on a daily basis during the 1993 Santosh Trophy National Football Championship held at Kochi. Chandrasekharan was a keen observer of the game and used to brief the then Kerala coach T A Jaffar about the shortcomings of each player in the team whenever the hosts took the field.
Kerala lost its last surviving Olympian who hit it off well in all venues where he took the field.