&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Vece Paes, Indian hockey veteran and Tennis great Leander Paes’ father, dies at 80")
Dr Vece Paes, a hockey bronze medalist for India during the 1972 Summer Games and father of former Olympic medalist and Tennis great Leander Paes, has passed away in Kolkata on Thursday morning (Aug 14). Vece was hospitalised on Tuesday but breathed his last this morning, aged 80, losing his battle to the advanced stage of Parkinson’s disease. Having plied his trade in several sports and their associations, including playing cricket, football, and rugby, and serving as the president of the Indian Rugby Football Union (1996-2002), Vece was a midfielder during his playing days with Indian Hockey.
Vece, a pioneer in Indian sports medicine, worked as a medical consultant with several sporting bodies, including the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian Davis Cup Team.
The hockey veteran, however, was also part of the bronze medal-winning Indian Team during the 1971 Hockey World Cup in Barcelona.
Paes, who was married to Jennifer, a former Indian basketball player and the national team captain, was admitted to the Woodlands hospital in Kolkata on Tuesday morning. Per the latest reports, Paes’ last rites will be performed either on Monday or Tuesday, as the family awaits the arrival of his daughters, both of whom are settled abroad.
Meanwhile, his son, Leander Paes, tasted enormous success at the top level representing India in Tennis. Leander is the most successful Indian in this sport, having won 18 Grand Slam titles, including eight men’s doubles and 10 mixed doubles.
Although like this father but in a different discipline, Leander also won a bronze medal at the Summer Games (1996 Atlanta Olympics), becoming the first Indian tennis player to achieve this feat.
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Paes retired from professional Tennis in 2020 following his last Davis Cup tie in Croatia. Leander, however, also planned to play a few selected tournaments that year as part of his farewell tour dubbed ‘The Last Roar’.
