RIP Dr Vece Paes, the hockey star who gifted Indian tennis his son, Leander

It’s difficult to sum up Dr Vece Paes’ contributions to Indian sport in a few lines. We can talk about him being a member of the bronze-winning Indian hockey team at the 1972 Munich Olympics, a towering presence in India’s sporting circles in general or a pioneer of sorts in sports medicine — but his identity as the father of tennis icon Leander Paes is the one that really stands out to most of the present generation of fans.

The news of ‘Doc’ (as he was addressed by all and sundry) passing away in the early hours of 14 August, Thursday, in a Kolkata nursing home was hardly surprising. At 80 years, he had been combatting Parkinson’s disease for several years now — prompting his famous son to spend more time in Kolkata than Mumbai in recent years. The bond, for those who had watched Leander’s career take off and soar, was a unique one — Vece was a tennis dad alright, but with a difference.

Back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, it was almost a pipe dream to nurture one’s son into a professional tennis player — yet Dr Paes took the risk of sending a 12-year-old away from home to the Britannia Amritraj Tennis (BAT) Academy in Chennai. An intense period of struggle for sponsorships followed, with things easing out somewhat after Leander’s Olympic bronze at Atlanta 1996. Prosperity eventually followed when he and Mahesh Bhupathi began their incredible doubles journey together.

“There was a time when my friends in corporate houses started avoiding me, thinking that I am about to make a proposal for Lee’s sponsorship again,’’ he recalled with his trademark hearty laugh during my research for a book years back — Leander: Portrait of a Never-Say-Die Indian. Always dispassionate and analytical about his son’s performance and ever the gentleman, ‘Doc’ took immense pride in his son’s achievements nevertheless — and embodied the cliché of a father who was friend, philosopher and guide on the road to stardom.

As for his own sport, an energetic centre half whose career overlapped with that of 1975 World Cup-winning captain Ajit Pal Singh, Dr Paes began playing hockey at school and continued through college. He was still a medical student when he made his international debut at the Hamburg International Cup in 1966.

As the sporting fraternity remembered him fondly, Gurbux Singh, the 1964 Olympic gold medallist and a good friend of Dr Paes, said: “He was a great team player and played several different sports. We played together for Mohun Bagan for 13 years, winning nine Beighton Cup and Calcutta League titles each. He was well-built and had the energy to go up and down the field. It’s unfair that he was not selected for the 1968 Olympics, but he got his chance in the 1971 World Cup (where India bagged a bronze) and of course the 1972 Olympics.”

Dr Paes, who donned multiple hats in his long association with Indian sport, was a centre half in the Indian hockey team. An all-round sportsperson, he also played football, cricket and rugby and even served as the president of the Indian Rugby Football Union from 1996 to 2002.

An internal medicine doctor who specialised in sports medicine, he worked as a medical consultant with several sports bodies as well, including the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the BCCI, and was the accompanying doctor to the Indian Davis Cup team for years.

Having been married to Jennifer Paes, a former basketball captain of India (they divorced later), he is survived by three children — Leander and his sisters Jacqueline and Maria.

 Go well, Doc!