Ravi Thakur - Thursday, Aug 14, 2025A sad news came from Kolkata today, sending a wave of mourning across the Indian sports world. Former Indian hockey player Vece Paes passed away today at a hospital in Kolkata. He was 80 years old. He represented the Indian team in the 1972 Munich Olympics. He was the father of famous tennis player Leander Paes.
Vece Paes was born on 30 April 1945. He played as a midfielder in the Indian team. He was part of the Indian hockey team in the 1972 Olympics held in Munich, the team won the silver medal. He was also a doctor of sports medicine and worked in the anti-doping department of BCCI for many years. He was also part of the team that won the silver medal in the Hockey World Cup held in Barcelona in 1971.
Paes studied at La Martiniere College in Lucknow after completing his pre-medical studies from Presidency College, Calcutta in 1964–65. He is married to Jennifer Dutton, the great-granddaughter of Bengali writer Michael Madhusudan Dutt. Jennifer is a basketball player who was part of the Indian national basketball team at the 1972 Summer Olympics. She also captained the national team in 1982.
Leander Paes made his name in tennis, he has won all four Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles. In mixed doubles, he has won the Australian Open 3 times (2003, 2010 and 2015), Wimbledon 4 times (1999, 2003, 2010 and 2015), US Open 2 times (2008, 2015) and French Open 1 time (2016).
Vece Paes and his son were very fond of cars. In a conversation, Leander had told that in the 70s his father had an Ambassador car. He used to take care of it with his father, play with it, etc.
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