Tony Daniel, chairman of the Athletics Federation of India’s technical committee and one of the three IAAF International Technical Officials (ITO) in the country who has officiated in many international and national championships, passed away here on Thursday morning after a heart attack. He had returned home after a walk a few minutes earlier.
The 66-year-old Tony was a former Kerala sprint champion. When he was around in any athletics championship, one had the feeling of reassurance that everything would work out fine.
“Asia has lost a great friend and a dedicated colleague, we will miss him,” said Asian Athletics Association secretary Maurice Nicholas.
Great loss
“It is a great loss for AFI. Tony was an experienced member of the AFI family and he will be missed a lot,” said AFI president Adille Sumariwalla.
“Despite his age, he was very active, we used to see him in all meets, whether junior or senior. He was very strong technically and he always looked very fit, it’s hard to believe that he is no more,” said track great P.T. Usha.
“It was a big shock for me, only this morning I was speaking to him about the recent Junior Federation Cup in Coimbatore and 30 minutes later I hear about his death,” said AFI secretary C.K. Valson.
A former head of the physical education department at Aluva’s St. Xavier’s Women’s College, Tony was a very efficient sports administrator and was the backbone of Kerala athletics. He was the Kerala Athletics Association secretary for eight years and played a big role in bringing a synthetic track to the Maharaja’s Stadium here.
Technical work often appears to be a boring, thankless job, but the calm and soft-spoken Tony inspired many to become technical officials.
He leaves behind his wife and a daughter. The funeral will be held at the Mount Carmel Church, Chathiyath, near Kacheripady, at 3 p.m. on Friday.
