Ashok Kumar, son of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand, recalls a disappointed Paes telling him a few years back that he had lost his 1972 Munich Games medal; Kumar gave him his bronze to create a replica, but he couldn’t make one
Vece Paes during the 1969-70 season. Pic Courtesy: Hyderabad Toofans X Account
Vece Paes had a calmness that was highly infectious. His son, the legendary Indian tennis player Leander, once told this correspondent that during testing situations, he always drew, both inner peace and strength, from his father’s silent yet strict demeanour. He was a yaaron ka yaar (great friend) too, as Leander revealed in a previous conversation: “Dad loves his 1972 Munich Olympics hockey teammates and whenever they meet, it’s great to see their camaraderie still very much there.”
This is the reason one of Paes’s Munich Games teammates, former India hockey captain and son of the legendary Dhyan Chand, Ashok Kumar, just could not get over the news of his passing on Thursday. Paes, 80, passed away at a Kolkata hospital due to age-related health issues.
Shocking news
“It’s shocking to learn that Vece ji is no more. We would meet at least once a year at different sports functions and he was always a gentleman just like his playing days. Vece ji was like a sadhu sant [saint-like] aadmi, a gem of a person, sincere, honest and very helpful. When I began my club career in 1969 at Mohun Bagan in Kolkata as a centre-forward, Vece ji played centre-half there. He would feed me brilliant passes and I ended up scoring so many goals that I eventually had to get picked for India. We played together for three seasons at Mohun Bagan and dominated the Indian hockey club scene, winning the Calcutta League thrice, the Beighton Cup thrice and the Bombay Gold Cup once and finishing runners-up twice. He was our central mainstay,” Ashok Kumar told mid-day on Thursday, going on to recall an interesting previous meeting between the two.
1972 Munich Oly teammates Vece Paes (left) and Ashok Kumar
“Two years ago, I met Vece ji at a hockey function in Kolkata and he told me that he had lost his Munich Olympics bronze medal. He was very sad and disturbed, so I told him to take my medal [which I was carrying with me] and make a replica medal for himself. He was very happy, but after a few months, he returned
my medal, saying he was unable to get anyone in Bombay or Kolkata to make the replica,” said Ashok Kumar, who scored the winning goal in the
final of India’s only World Cup-winning campaign, at Malaysia in 1975.
Finally, Ashok Kumar doffed his hat to Paes’s calmness in probably one of the world’s most controversial sporting events ever — the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, where 11 Israelis were killed by members of Palestinian militant outfit Black September.
Always calm in a crisis
“I remember it was early morning [September 5] and we [Indian hockey team] were heading out for a practice session and saw these masked men, holding guns and arguing with one of the German policemen. This was just around 30 feet away from us. It was nerve-wracking and there was panic in our camp. Almost all our players were worried but, Vece ji was calm. Nothing ruffled him, not even that situation. We went for our practice and later learned about the killings, and the Olympics were briefly halted. But I salute Vece ji for his calmness even in that tense situation. He was a calm operator not only as a centre-half on the hockey pitch, but in life too,” concluded Ashok Kumar.
Tributes pour in for Dr vece Paes
Sania Mirza — Six-time Grand Slam-winner
“I have known Dr Vece Paes for almost a quarter century. He was the Indian Team Doctor in the 2002 Busan Asian Games. Having been a world-class hockey player, himself, he understood the psyche of a professional athlete and that helped him in treating his patients. A thorough gentleman and a proud Indian, Uncle Vece will be sorely missed.”
Dilip Tirkey — Former India hockey captain & Hockey India president
“It is a sad day for us at Hockey India. The passing of Dr Paes draws curtains on a great era of hockey. The Olympic medal in Munich is a testament to their grit and determination. I had the good fortune of meeting him a few times and I have always been inspired by his passion for sports. He was a great advocate of inculcating sporting culture in the country.”
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