Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXXI No. 3, May 16-31, 2021
Chandra – A fighter to the core
by Partab Ramchand
V. Chandrasekar in action during the Commonwealth table tennis championships. (Courtesy: The Hindu Archives.)
In the 70s and early 80s I was the table tennis correspondent for the Indian Express in Madras and the period coincided with the rise of Venugopal Chandrasekhar to the point where he peaked in winning the national title three years in a row from 1979 to 1981. He also had the best record for an Indian player in international meets and represented the country in four World championships. With his brilliant attacking game Chandra waa a crowd favourite. This was the time when the popularity of table tennis in the city was at its zenith and the indoor stadiums were packed with the few thousands that could be accommodated. He had an enormous fan following for besides his fluent and pleasing game he was a handsome, charismatic personality, an extrovert who played to the gallery.
This was a great period for TT in Madras for there were a number of talented youngsters making the grade. But I sensed that Chandra was something very special and gave him plenty of coverage in the newspaper by carrying lengthy reports, feature stories and photographs. I faced the ridicule of my fellow sports writers who asked in non-polite terms why I was going overboard in covering Chandra’s exploits when there were so many equally gifted youngsters around. I told them that Chandra was destined for big things and when he won his first national title his father was gracious in telling me that my coverage had a lot to do with encouraging Chandra to pull it off.
By this time Chandra was popular all over the country. Remarkably fit and agile the manner in which he bounded about while retrieving the ball or sending winners on both flanks with forehand drives or backhand flicks endeared him to TT fans. By 1984 Kamlesh Mehta had taken over as the country’s leading player but Chandra was still a force to reckon with being among the top two or three in the country. Late that year he was admitted to a hospital in Madras for what was to be a routine knee surgery. Unfortunately it went horribly awry and for weeks thereafter he remained in hospital virtually a vegetable much to the concern of his parents for whom he was an only child. It was a painful sight to see a brilliant player and a handsome personality walking like a zombie, unable to see clearly or speak coherently or comprehend almost anything.
In 1985 Chandra met Dr Paul Cutler from Canada who said he could be treated and so commenced a painful routine of physiotherapy that went on for months. By the time he returned to Madras in 1986 he had improved considerably but still was not normal having difficulties with vision and movements. That was how he was to be till the end which came about following a Covid related lung infection in Chennai on May 12.
During the time of his rehab Chandra received a lot of help from the media who took up his case and appealed for funds which saw Chandra obtain the money to go to Canada for the expensive treatment. But he could never forget that it was because of medical negligence — as he put it — that his career, his youth and his life had so tragically taken a turn for the worse. He sued the hospital in a famous case that went on for years. His grandfather RM Seshadri was a famous advocate and Chandra himself had been a gold medal winning law college student. Still taking on a big hospital legally was an uphill task but Chandra a fighter to the core never gave up. “They have ruined my career, my life, my youth, my future, they will have to pay for it,” he said. Finally he won the case and received Rs 29 lakhs as compensation.
In the meantime State Bank of India where he was an officer had reinstated him and side by side Chandra started a TT academy wherein several players benefited from his pearls of wisdom. Though he could no longer play the game as his reflexes had virtually gone for good he was able to impart tips on strategy and tactics. Physically he might have been almost a wreck but he had a sharp mind and was able to recall many things accurately and argue on matters forcefully in the manner of a lawyer. Following retirement from the bank he fully concentrated on making his academy one of the best in terms of facilities and remained active as a coach till the end. At 64 Chandra still had much to offer the game but fate willed otherwise.
