Vece Paes, a member of 1972 Olympics bronze medallist Indian hockey team and father of tennis legend Leander Paes, dies at the age of 80 on Thursday. Vece was suffering from age related problems and breathed his last at a private hospital in Kolkata on midnight.
Paes, who was suffering from advanced stage of Parkinson’s disease, was admitted to a city hospital on Tuesday morning. Vece, who donned multiple hats in his long association with Indian sports, was a midfielder in the Indian hockey team.
In the 1972 Olympics in Munich, India lost to Pakistan in the semifinals before winning against Netherlands to come home with a bronze medal. Besides hockey, Vece also played several other sports such as football, cricket and rugby.
Vece had even served as the president of the Indian Rugby Football Union from 1996 to 2002. He was also a sports medicine doctor and worked as a medical consultant with several sports bodies including the Asian Cricket Council, the BCCI and the Indian Davis Cup team.
