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‘To see Leander do India proud gave Vece Paes a lot of happiness, and Chandigarh had a special place in his heart'
Before watching his son Leander Paes play in his maiden Davis Cup title against Japan at the age of 16 years and nine months at the grass courts at CLTA Stadium in Sector 10 in 1990, Munich Olympics bronze medal-winning Indian hockey team member Dr Vece Paes had watched Paes Junior win the ITF Juniors Tournament in 1989 at the same stadium.
Then, 44-year-old Dr Vece Paes came to CLTA for the first time, and it would start a more than three-decade association of Paes Sr with the city.
An honorary consultant with CLTA for long and a supporter of the CLTA's Chandigarh Academy of Rural Tennis, Dr Paes breathed his last at a hospital in Kolkata on Thursday morning. He was 80.
CLTA founding member and former president Rajan Kashyap remembers one thing which remained with him since his first meeting with Paes Sr.
'I met him for the first time when Leander Paes won his first Junior ITF Title at CLTA before he came again to watch Leander make history for India with his debut in the Davis Cup tie against Japan in 1990. He would come for the next Davis Cup ties against New Zealand in 2012 and the World Group semi-final against Australia in 1993 at CLTA Stadium, apart from the Davis Cup tie against Korea at Chandigarh Club in 2016. While Leander won the Atlanta Olympics bronze medal, apart from making records in Davis Cup and Grand Slams for India, every time Dr Paes would make sure to downplay his feat of winning the Olympic bronze and wanted to remain in the background. To see Leander do India proud gave him a lot of happiness, and Chandigarh had a special place in his heart,' Kashyap told The Indian Express.
Born in 1945 in Goa, Paes Sr would play for the Mohun Bagan and Bengal teams before he made his debut for the Indian team in the Hamburg International Cup in 1966. Later, he was selected for the Indian hockey team for the 1972 Munich Olympics as a centre-half, with Ajitpal Singh donning the role of the main centre-half of the Indian team. After Paes Jr played his maiden Davis Cup in Chandigarh, Dr Paes would visit Chandigarh often and come on board CLTA as an honorary consultant.
'Before the Davis Cup tie against Japan, I met Indian captain Naresh Kumar at Kolkata Race Course, and Kumar was very excited about Leander. He told me that he wants Leander in the team, and I told him that it's his choice as the captain of the team. Initially, Leander went to Chandigarh as the hitting partner for Rohit Rajpal, but on the day of the draw, Kumar decided to hand Leander his Davis Cup debut. Leander and Zeeshan Ali won the doubles match, and Leander would tell me later that it was nothing short of a festival in Chandigarh at that time. Later, Leander and I were associated with CLTA for more than 14 years, conducting coaching clinics and being on the advisory committee,' Dr Paes had told this correspondent in 2022.
With CLTA starting its own rural programme in 1992, Dr Paes would keep a keen interest in that with charting the fitness programme for the trainees as well as supporting some of the trainees, including national champion Sunil Kumar. The Olympic bronze medallist would also be a pioneer in sports and worked as a medical consultant with the BCCI as well Indian Davis Cup teams. 'Dr Vece Paes joined CLTA as an honorary consultant, and his focus was on the nutrition as well as injury recovery of the young trainees. He would also support national champion Sunil Kumar, who would stay at his home in Kolkata for two years. During the 2013 World Group semi-final against Australia, where he was a consultant with the Indian Davis Cup team, he would play tennis along with me and the Spanish consultant and would enjoy the tennis sessions. He would never show that he is an Olympic bronze medallist. Whenever he would get free, he would make sure to ask about CLTA trainees, and it continued till recent years when he was fully fit,' shared Kashyap.
Dr Paes would also prepare a blueprint regarding fitness and nutrition programmes for the school children in Chandigarh and had been in consultation with the UT Administration before the project failed to take off. 'Dr Vece Paes wanted to give as much of his knowledge to the players as he could. He had prepared the blueprint for the school children in Chandigarh and was in talks with the UT Administration for no fees for his services. Such was his passion for sports,' remembers Megh Raj IAS, COO, CLTA.
CLTA head coach Romen Singh, too, had met Dr Paes and remembers his inputs. ' We were beginners in coaching and whenever he would visit Chandigarh, he would spend time with the coaches and trainees, emphasising the aspect of sports science as well as fitness,' says Singh.
