Pradeep Vijayakar, noted sports journalist and versatile writer, passed away on Saturday night at a private clinic. He was undergoing treatment for cancer.
Mumbai cricketers, coaches and administrators, hockey and cue sport internationals were present at the Shivaji Park crematorium on Sunday to pay respects to the 59-year-old, who is survived by wife and two daughters.
Vijayakar, designated Assistant Editor with the Times of India (Mumbai), wrote with passion and flair on diverse disciplines ranging from cricket, cue sports, shooting, squash, rugby, table tennis, hockey, kabaddi and horse racing to name a few, bringing out aspects in his articles to keep the sports reader hooked.
Among those present to pay respects were World Cuppers Balwinder Sandhu, Chandrakant Pandit, Pravin Amre, hockey Olympian M Somaya, ex-India goalkeeper Mir Ranjan Negi, ace cueists Devendra Joshi and Dhruv Sitwala, national squash coach Cyrus Poncha, Mumbai coach Vilas Godbole, ex-India cricketers Abey Kuruvilla, Paras Mhambrey, Nilesh Kulkarni, Sairaj Bahutule, cricket administrators Prof Ratnakar Shetty and Pravin Barve.
A regular at football and hockey venues, Cooperage ground and Mahindra sta#dium respectively, Vijayakar made it his duty to be present for matches when the Mumbai league title was at stake. A prolific writer on multiple subjects, he blogged as a way of expressing thoughts on happenings in the ever-changing world of sport.
An alumnus of St. Stanislaus School and later St. Xavier’s College where he did MA in Politics after graduating in Economics, Vijayakar played alongside Sunil Gavaskar for Xavier’s, represented Shivaji Park Youngsters, Khar Gymkhana in the city league and was a known face on the Mumbai maidans for passion in encouraging young talent. He did radio and television commentary alongside print journalism.
Vijayakar taught news media management at UPG Institute of Communications, sports journalism at KC's Bombay College of Journalism. He reported five cricket World Cups since 1979, apart from world-level tournaments in billiards, snooker and squash and has worked in Free Press Journal newspaper and Sportsweek magazine.
