Banerjee suffers cerebral haemorrhage

Kolkata:

Football stalwart P K Banerjee suffered a minor cerebral haemorrhage on Thursday, but his condition was stated to be "stable" at the nursing home where he is admitted. Doctors attending on him said that it was a "minor haemorrhage and no surgical interference was required." The 70-year-old former national captain, the first Arjuna awardee among footballers, has been kept under observation in the Intensive Care Unit of the Belle Vue Clinic. Banerjee was responding to treatment and was expected to be released in a week, doctors said. Pradip Kumar Banerjee, popularly known as 'PK' in football circles, was a member of the gold medal winning Indian team at the Jakarta Asian Games in 1962. Born in Jalpaiguri in North Bengal, PK developed into an excellent striker with great shooting prowess. But despite his brilliance on the football field, he never played for any of the big clubs of Kolkata and spent most of his playing days with Eastern Railways after a brief stint with Aryans Club. Banerjee was also a member of the Indian team that finished fourth in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and before leading the side at the 1960 Rome Olympics where India held mighty France to a 1-1 draw with PK scoring the goal. Banerjee represented India in three Asian Games from 1958 to 1966 and scored in all matches except the first one. Though he never played for the big clubs, post retirement PK coached both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal apart from the national team at the 1982 Delhi Asian Games. (PTI)