Paddler V Chandrasekhar passes away

Chennai: Arjuna award-winning former India table tennis player V Chandrasekhar died at a private hospital here on Wednesday due to COVID-19 related complications, family sources said.

He was 64 and is survived by his wife and a son.

Chandra, as he was popularly known, was a three-time national champion and was the president of Tamizhaga Table Tennis Association and Director and head coach of the SDAT-Medimix TT Academy in the city.

The Chennai-born player, who had reached the semifinals of the Commonwealth Games in 1982, was also a successful coach.

His playing career was cut short in 1984 following a botched knee surgery at a hospital here which led to him losing mobility, speech and vision. He fought back to recover and served the game as a coach.

He also fought a legal battle against the hospital and got a verdict in his favour.

He was a three-time national champion and a gold medallist in BA (Economics) and Law at the time of the career-ending injury.

Subsequently, sheer willpower helped Chandra return to 70-80 per cent of his normal mobility and he decided to focus on training promising players.

Current Indian paddler G Sathiyan and former national champion S Raman were among his trainees. Table tennis ace A Sharath Kamal condoled the death of Chandrasekhar.

“We have lost a champion who fought death 37 years ago. Saddened to hear of the passing of V Chandrasekar Sir. Table Tennis as a sport has lost a great mentor, coach and an amazing player. He made the sport famous in the early 80’s. Rest in Peace, Sir,” Kamal tweeted.

We have lost a champion who fought death 37 years ago. Saddened to hear of the passing of V Chandrasekar Sir. Table Tennis as a sport has lost a great mentor, coach and an amazing player. He made the sport famous in the early 80’s. Rest in Peace, Sir. 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/120Pb2RVn4

— Sharath Kamal OLY (@sharathkamal1) May 12, 2021

On his part, Sathiyan said, “Completely shocked and indeed a very personal loss to me and my family. Lost my long time childhood & former coach & Arjuna Awardee Chandrsekhar sir today…Your memories and teachings will always stay with me sir. RIP.”

Completely shocked and indeed a very personal loss to me and my family😢😢
Lost my long time childhood & former coach & Arjuna Awardee Chandrsekhar sir today for Covid😢

Your memories and teachings will always stay with me sir😢
RIP🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/2FtLj8OxBE

— Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (@sathiyantt) May 12, 2021

“Playing with him for almost 14 years. From 1998 till 2012 I was with him. He let me play in my style. He was the one who always helped. He nurtured me. It is not only a loss for me, but for my family also,” he added.

Raman, who was trained by Chandra, recalled his former coach as a very stylish and multi-talented player.

The table tennis fraternity in Chennai condoled his death, saying that the sport had lost a legend.

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