Olympian footballer Tulsidas Balaram dies after prolonged illness

Tulsidas Balaram, one of the country’s finest footballers and a member of the golden era of Indian football (1951-1962), passed away due to multiple organ failure in Kolkata on Thursday. He was 87. Last month, he was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Kolkata, his adopted home since 1957, due to low dietary intake and abdominal distention. Since his condition deteriorated, he was in ICU. In 2021, he had a blood clot removed from his brain.

Balaram, originally Balaraman, played in two Olympics in 1956 and 1960 and reached the pinnacle of Asian football when India, under the guidance of legendary coach Syed Abdul Rahim, won the Asian Games gold in Jakarta, beating South Korea 2-1 in 1962.

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.