KOCHI: Footballer O Chandrasekharan, 86, passed away in Kochi on Tuesday.A defender, he was a member of the Indian team at the Rome Olympics in 1960. It was the last time the country played at the quadrennial games. India held France to a 1-1 during the Games, thanks to some fine performance by Chandrasekharan and his partners in defence. Chandrasekharan has been suffering from dementia.
Fondly called Olympian Chandrasekharan, he won gold at the 1962 Asian Games and silver at the 1964 Asian Cup. He also represented the country at the Merdeka tournament.Chandrasekharan played for India alongside stalwarts like P K Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, Peter Thangaraj, Simon Sunderraj and Tulsidas Balaraman. He became the first Malayali to win the Santosh Trophy, but he did it as Maharashtra captain.Born in Irinjalakuda, Chandrasekharan graduated from Maharaja’s College before going on to play for Caltex in Mumbai and SBT.