The first ever book on Olympian footballer Simon Sunderraj, who scored India’s last goal in the showpiece event in the 1960 Rome Olympics, was released here on Friday.
Titled ‘Olympian Katha Parayumbol’ (When Olympian Tells the Story’), the book is written by senior sports journalist Chris Thomas.
Marking its release, Sunderraj’s Rome Olympics teammate O Chandrasekharan received the first copy from Malayala Manorama managing editor Philip Mathew.
Familiar to fans in Kerala as the legendary coach under whom the state won its first ever Santosh Trophy in 1973, Sunderraj was also a member of the Indian team that reached the semifinal of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
At Rome, he scored in a 1-3 loss to Peru, after which India has never managed to qualify for the Olympics.
India had famously held France to a 1-1 draw then, after a narrow 1-2 defeat against Hungary in the opening match.
Present on the occasion were former Kerala players, many of whom members of the 1973 Kerala team, like captain T K S Mani, C C Jacob, Prasannan, K P Williams, T A Jafar, Blassy George, Mithran, M M Jacob, C R Balakrishnan and Balan, along with Olympian athlete K M Binu and former Tamil Nadu Santosh Trophy player and noted coach Rufus D’Souza.
Veteran journalist Babu Mather had earlier introduced the book.