O. Chandrasekhar Menon (10 July 1935 – 24 August 2021) was an Indian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender. He represented

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

(Rome), the

1962 Asian Games ) , Host city = Jakarta, Indonesia , Nations participating = 17 , Athletes participating = 1,460 , Events = 120 in 13 sports , Opening ceremony = 24 August 1962 , Closing ceremony = 4 September 1962 , ...

(Gold medal),

1964 AFC Asian Cup The 1964 AFC Asian Cup was the 3rd edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Israel from 26 May to 3 June 1964. The tournament ...

(Silver medal),

Merdeka Tournament Merdeka Tournament or Pestabola Merdeka is a friendly football tournament held in Malaysia to commemorate the Independence Day. The competition bears the Malay word for independence. As of 2022, it has been held 40 times, and decreasingly in r ...

(Silver Medal - 1959 & 1964) and

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

(Tokyo Qualifiers).

Early life and club career

Early life

Born in Irinjalakuda (India), Chandrasekhar honed his football skills at Maharaja's College in Ernakulam (India).

Club career

* Caltex, Bombay: 1956–1966 *

State Bank of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. SBI is the 49th largest bank in the world by total assets and ranked 221st in the ''Fortune ...

: 1966–1973

National championship (Santosh trophy)

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

: 1956–1966

International career

He was a member of the Indian team in the

1960 Rome Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, where India famously held France 1–1 in a game, courtesy of Chandrasekhar and his defensive partners. He was also part of Indian teams that won gold in the

, silver in the

(1959 and 1964). He played alongside some of the greatest names in Indian football like PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami,

Tulsidas Balaram Tulsidas Balaram (born 30 November 1936), also known as Tulsidas Balaraman, is a retired association football, footballer from India who had represented the country in international competitions including the Olympic Games. He is widely regarded ...

, Peter Thangaraj, Jarnail Singh, and Mariappa Kempaiah, under coaching of Syed Abdul Rahim. He also captained India in few tournaments.

Manager career

* Chandrashekar became general manager of

FC Kochin Football Club Kochin was an Indian association football club based in Kochi, Kerala. In the 1990s, it was the only football club from Kerala to play in the National Football League, then top tier of Indian football league system. FC Kochin play ...

in 1994–95.

Death

After suffering from age related illness since 2015, O. Chandrasekhar died in Kochi on 24 August 2021. He was 86 years old.

Honours

International

** '' Gold Medal'' *

** '' Silver Medal'' * Merdeka cup (Malaysia) ** '' Silver Medal (

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

)''

Domestic

* 1963 Santosh Trophy ** '' Champion''

Personal

* Selected in Kerala's all time dream team (football) * Selected as Kerala's top 10 Sports Person of the Century

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrasekhar, O. 1936 births 2021 deaths People from Irinjalakuda Footballers from Kerala Indian men's footballers Men's association football defenders India men's international footballers 1964 AFC Asian Cup players Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for India Medalists at the 1962 Asian Games Footballers at the 1962 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games medalists in football Mumbai Football League players