Year-ender: Indian sports icons whom we lost in 2021

One of independent India's biggest sporting icons, ace sprinter Milkha Singh, died on June 19 after a month-long battle with COVID-19, during which he lost his former national volleyball captain wife Nirmal Kaur to the same ailment. The Padma Shri awardee, who was nicknamed 'The Flying Sikh' for his accomplishments, was 91. The legendary athlete was a four-time Asian Games gold medallist and the 1958 Commonwealth Games champion but his greatest performance remains the fourth-place finish in the 400m final of the 1960 Rome Olympics. His timing of 45.6 sec at the Italian capital remained the national record for 38 years before Paramjeet Singh broke it in 1998. He also represented India in the 1956 and 1964 Olympics and was bestowed the Padma Shri in 1959.

Considered an authority on Indian football, veteran commentator and former Delhi University professor Novy Kapadia died in Delhi on November 18 after a prolonged illness. He was 67. The soft-spoken Kapadia, who has covered nine FIFA World Cups, was on ventilator support. The versatile Kapadia was involved in the commentary for decades and it was not just restricted to football. He has been a part of the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and other multi-sport events. Kapadia, who founded the Ashoka Club and played active football in the local league, was held in high esteem by the players, officials, scribes and everyone else associated with Indian football and beyond. He was sought after for his knowledge and experience in the sport and it is encapsulated in his seminal book, 'Barefoot To Boots, The Many Lives Of Indian Football'.

Renowned athletics coach O.M Nambiar, who nurtured one of India's greatest track and field stars PT Usha, died on August 19 due to an age-related illness. He was 89. One of the first Dronacharya Award winners and this year's Padma Shri awardee was hospitalized around a week ago, after which he was brought back home. A former Air Force man, Nambiar has turned several young talents into international athletes during his tenure as a renowned coach, including the legendary Usha, who missed a bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics by one-hundredth of a second. Besides Usha, some of the international medal-winning athletes he coached include Shiny Wilson (four-time Olympian and 1985 Asia Championships gold winner in 800m) and Vandana Rao.

Nandu Natekar, one of the superstars in Indian badminton history, passed away in Pune on July 28 due to prolonged illness. He was 88. In the 1950s and 1960s, Natekar was a household name all over India, thanks to his exploits on the court across the globe. The first Indian shuttler to win a tournament overseas — the Selangor International crown in Kuala Lumpur in 1956, Natekar was among the first batch of the Arjuna Award recipients in 1961 when the awards were introduced. His international achievements included making it to the All England Championship quarterfinals in 1954 and representing India in the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica in 1966.

Former Asian Games gold medalist boxer Ngangom Dingko Singh passed away on June 10 after battling a prolonged illness. He was 47. Dingko had a long battle with liver cancer for which he received treatment in 2017. He also tested positive for Covid-19 last year but had recovered. Dingko won the gold medal in 1998 at the 13th Asian Games, Bangkok ending India's 16 years medal drought in the Asian Games. He was also Manipur's first Asian Games gold medalist. Dingko started his boxing career under L. Ibomcha Singh in 1990 at the SAI, Khuman Lampak Sports Complex, Imphal. The talented boxer's big break came in 1991 after he won the Sub Juniors National Boxing Championship in Haryana's Ambala and went on to achieve many milestones. In 1995, he joined the Indian Navy. For his outstanding contribution, the Manipuri pugilist was bestowed the Arjuna award in 1998 and conferred with Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, in 2013.

India's 1983 World Cup hero Yashpal Sharma, who was admired for being a gutsy middle-order batsman at the peak of his prowess, passed away on July 13 after suffering a massive cardiac arrest. In his international career, Yashpal played 37 Tests, scoring 1606 runs, and 42 ODIs in which he made 883. He also picked up one wicket each in the two formats to his credit. He was known for his gutsy attitude and his stroke-filled half-century in the semifinal against England in the 1983 campaign at Old Trafford will forever be etched in the public memory. He was also a national selector in the early 2000s and was part of the panel which gave MS Dhoni his maiden India call-up in 2004. Yashpal was also part of the selection panel that picked the triumphant 2011 World Cup squad under Dhoni's leadership. So, from being a part of a World Cup-winning to picking one that also won the trophy, Yashpal had seen it all.

Syed Shahid Hakim, former India footballer and member of the last national team that played in the 1960 Rome Olympics, died on August 22 at a hospital in Gulbarga, family sources said. Hakim Saab, as he was popularly known, was 82 years old at the time of his death. He had very recently suffered a stroke after which he was admitted to a hospital in Gulbarga. In his more than five-decade association with Indian football, Hakim, a Dronacharya Awardee, has also been an assistant coach to late PK Banerjee during the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi and also independently has been in charge of the national team during a tournament in Merdeka. At the domestic level, his finest hour as a coach came when he guided Mahindra & Mahindra (now Mahindra United) to the Durand Cup title in 1988, beating a formidable East Bengal team. He has also coached Salgaocar and his last serious coaching assignment was with Bengal Mumbai FC in 2004-05. He has been a Fifa badge holder international referee having officiated in Asian Club Cup games and was also conferred with the prestigious Dhyan Chand Award. A former Squadron Leader of the Indian Air Force, Hakim was also a Regional Director of Sports Authority of India and his last assignment was as Project Director in charge of scouting before the 2017 U-17 Fifa World Cup.

Vasudev, alias Vasoo, Paranjape - a former First Class cricketer who mentored many greats of the game - passed away at the age of 82. Paranjape's career as a cricketer was restricted to 29 appearances for Mumbai from 1956 to 1970. But it was his great cricketing acumen, ability to mentor cricketers, and an uncanny knack to motivate young and veterans alike that elevated him into the stature of one of the greatest guides of the game in Indian cricket. It was apt that his son Jatin - a former India batter and a national selector - titled a book on his father that he co-authored with Anand Vasu as "The Cricket Drona - for the love of Vasoo Paranjape" last year. From Sunil Gavaskar to Rohit Sharma, from Dilip Vengsarkar to Rahul Dravid, from Sachin Tendulkar to Ramesh Powar, and from Anil Kumble to W.V. Raman, hundreds of international cricketers benefitted from Paranjape's timely advice at different junctures in their career. He was the coach of India Under-19 for the inaugural Youth World Cup in 1988, with the squad including the likes of M. Senthilnathan, Pravin Amre, Nayan Mongia, Narendra Hirwani, Venkatapathy Raju and Subroto Banerjee. Besides being a mentor, Paranjape was a cricket romantic and would be ready to be involved in a cricket discussion with cricketers and connoisseurs alike until his health deteriorated over the last few years.

Two-time Olympic gold medallist in hockey, Keshav Datt, died on July 7 due to age-related ailments. Datt was 95. Datt was part of India's golden era in hockey. A formidable halfback, he was part India's historic feat at the 1948 Olympics where they beat home team Britain 4-0 at the Wembley Stadium in London to win the first gold post Independence. Before the 1948 Olympics, Datt had toured East Africa under the leadership of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand in 1947. An integral part of the Indian team, Datt also captained the Mohun Bagan hockey squad from 1951-1953 and again in 1957-1958. As a Mohun Bagan player, he won the hockey league six times and the Beighton Cup three times in a span of 10 years. He was conferred with the Mohun Bagan Ratna award in 2019, becoming the first non-footballer recipient of the honour.

Once the face of Fit India Movement, internationally acclaimed veteran athlete Mann Kaur breathed her last at the age of 105 on July 31. She died of liver cancer at a hospital here. Mann Kaur, who took to athletics at the age of 93, received the Nari Shakti Puraskar from the President at the age of 103. In 2016, she was declared the fastest centenarian at a competition in the American Masters Games. In 2019, she won four events — shot put, 60m sprint, 200m race, and javelin throw — in her age category at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Poland. She won more than 25 medals at the veteran athletics championship. Popular as Bebe Mann Kaur, she stayed mostly in Canada and for some months every year at her son's house in Chandigarh. After she won a marathon event in Patiala in 2016, the organisers provided her lodging in Hotel Neemrana, renovated version of the famed Rajindra Kothi of Patiala Kings. She stayed in the Maharani's room.