Thursday, April 30, 2020

Indian Football stalwart Chuni Goswami no more

Chuni Goswami, the Indian Football stalwart who led India to win the gold medal in the 1962 Asian Games in Bangkok expired today evening at a private hospital in Kolkata. 

Chuni-da, as the Arjuna awardee and Padma Shri is fondly known amongst the football supporters. Also, he was a member of the Indian team which finished as second behind hosts Israel in the AFC Asian Cup in 1964. He had scored India’s third goal against the 3-1 victory against Hong Kong en-route to the final.

He is also one of the six Indian Footballers to have received the prestigious Padma Shri Award, others being the Late Gotsho Paul, late Sailen Manna, PK Banerjee, Bhaichung Bhutia, and Sunil Chhetri, along with the Arjuna Award. 

Earlier this year, Chuni Goswami was honoured by the Indian Postal Department, who issued a postal stamp on his 82nd birthday (January 15, 2020). He was the third Indian footballer after the late Gostho Paul (1998), and late Dr Talimeren Ao (2018) on whose name a postal stamp has been issued by the largest postal network in the world. 

Quite ironic that the country lost two football greats, Chuni Goswami and PK Banerjee, in a span of one month. 



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