Indian football legend Tulsidas Balaram dies in Kolkata

Kolkata:  Tulsidas Balaram, an Olympian and gold medalist from the Asian Games who was a member of Indian football's "holy trinity" in the prosperous 1950s and 1960s, passed away in Kolkata on Thursday after a prolonged illness.

Balaram, 87, was a widower who lived in a flat in Uttarpara on the Hooghly River's banks. On December 26 of last year, the Asian Games champion was admitted to the hospital for treatment of a urinary infection and abdominal



distension. A source close to his family stated, "His condition did not improve, and he breathed his last around 2 p.m. today."

He continued, "We are thankful to the State government and the sports minister Aroop Biswas for taking good care of him during his final days." Balaram was born on October 4, 1936, to Tamil parents Muthamma and Tulsidas Kalidas, in the village of Ammuguda in the garrison town of Secunderabad. Over the course of seven seasons, he scored 131 goals.