Kolkata: Former Indian hockey player Dr Vece Paes, father of tennis star Leander Paes, who was a member of India’s bronze medal-winning men’s hockey team at the 1972 Munich Olympics, passed away on Thursday morning at a private hospital in Kolkata on Thursday. He was 80.
A release issued from the hospital stated that Dr Paes was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday with multi-organ dysfunction due to lower respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract infections.
He was under its home care services for the past 10 months as a long-term patient of Parkinson’s disease and bed-bound for an extended period.
“Despite the best medical efforts, Dr Paes breathed his last in the early hours of August 14, 2025,” the
statement read. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed condolences on her X handle. “Saddened by the demise of Dr Vece Paes, member of the bronze medal winning team at the 1972 Olympic Games.
His contribution to hockey and sports medicine
will be remembered. My condolences to his family, including Leander, his friends and the members of the many clubs of Kolkata he was associated with,”
she wrote. State Sports and Youth Affairs minister Aroop Biswas also expressed condolences at the demise and termed it as an irreparable loss in the sports arena. He personally met Leander Paes and offered his condolences.