Football legend PK Banerjee dies at 83

Kolkata, March 20

Legendary footballer PK Banerjee died at a city hospital on Friday after battling a chest infection for a long time, family sources said. He was 83.

He was on ventilator support in the intensive care unit of Medica Superspecialty Hospital for more than two weeks. Banerjee, who was admitted to the hospital on March 2, breathed his last at 12.40pm, according to a family member.

A two-time Olympian and the only surviving goal-scorer of India’s 1962 Asian Games gold medal winning team, Banerjee is survived by daughters Paula and Purna, who are renowned academicians, and younger brother Prasun Banerjee, a sitting Trinamool Congress MP.

He scored 65 international goals in 84 appearances for the national team.

He was suffering from respiratory problems due to pneumonia and had an underlying history of Parkinson’s disease, dementia and heart problem.

Born on June 23, 1936, in Moynaguri on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, Banerjee’s family relocated to his uncle’s place in Jamshedpur before partition. – Agencies

Break quote: A two-time Olympian, PK Banerjee was the only surviving goal-scorer of India’s 1962 Asian Games gold medal winning team