Tulsidas Balaram, India’s Asian Games gold medalist and Olympian, died on Thursday after a long illness, according to family members. Balaram, an 87-year-old widower, lived in a flat on the Hooghly River in Uttarpara.
On December 26, last year, the 1962 Asiad champion was admitted to the hospital for treatment of a urinary infection and abdominal distension.
“His condition did not improve and he breathed his last around 2pm today,” a source close to the family told PTI. “We are grateful to the state government and the sports minister Aroop Biswas for taking good care of him during his last days,” he added.
Balaram belonged to the golden generation of Indian football in the 1950s and 60s where he paired with legends such as Chuni Goswami and PK Banerjee, and they came to be known as ‘holy trinity’. Balaram’s exploits at the 1960 Rome Olympics, as an Arjuna awardee, are well documented.
India, which was placed in the ‘group of death’ with Hungary, France, and Peru, lost the first game 1-2 to Hungary, but Balaram saved the day with a 79th-minute goal. A few days later, India came dangerously close to upsetting France, with Balaram once again demonstrating his class.
Balaram, who mostly played as a centre-forward or as a left-winger, called it a day in 1963 owing to poor health.