Former Kerala State hockey player A.V. Rajagopal passed away in Alappuzha on Thursday. He was 73.
Rajagopal did his schooling in Chennai and picked up the sport from the St. Thomas Mount area. Later, he went on to represent Kerala in three senior Nationals in the late 1960s.
“He was a left half-back and later he was a coach in Alappuzha,” said his brother A.V. Suresh, also a former State hockey player.
“Hockey in Alappuzha was controlled by people from Gujarat those days, Rajagopal was the one who introduced hockey among the local people and developed Alappuzha hockey. He was popularly called as the father of Alappuzha hockey.”
