Olympian footballer O Chandrasekharan dies at 86
O Chandrasekharan was struggling with dementia. He represented the Indian football team at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Former Indian football team captain and Olympian O Chandrasekharan died at a hospital in Kochi, Kerala on Tuesday. He was 86.
While the cause of death is not yet known, O Chandrasekharan had been struggling with dementia for the past few years.
O Chandrasekharan played as a defender for the Indian football team at the 1960 Rome Olympics. India did not make it far but held France to a 1-1 draw at the Games. It was the last time an Indian football team played at the Olympics.
His Rome Olympics team-mate SS Hakim died on Sunday.
O Chandrasekharan won gold with the Indian football team at the 1962 Asian Games. He also led the Maharashtra team to the Santosh Trophy title, a prestigious inter-state tournament in India, in the 1963-64 season.
A native of Irinjalakuda town in Thrissur, Kerala, O Chandrasekharan was first spotted during the 1954 Santosh Trophy.
He was then invited to play in Bombay (now Mumbai), which offered better opportunities then, for the Caltex Club who he played for until 1966. He then played for the State Bank of India team from 1967 until his retirement in 1972.
O Chandrasekharan made his India debut in 1959 and played for the country for seven years. After retiring as a player, he had a brief stint as the general manager of FC Kochi in the 1994-95 season.