Former hockey great Mohammed Shahid passed away on Wednesday after losing out to serious liver problems at a private hospital in Gurgaon. The legendary hockey player was considered as one of the best players to have ever played the game.
His employer Railways and the sports ministry were taking care of the expenses of his treatment. His death was followed by tributes and condolences from athletes, politicians and journalists alike. The most notable tweet was from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who condoled the death of the “talented sportsman”.
The Prime Minister further posted that even after several efforts, they were unable to save the great Olympian.
Cricketer Virender Sehwag also took to twitter to pay his tributes to the legendary player.
TV Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai was not far behind and saluted the best dribbler of hockey. He fondly remembered how he watched the legend play at the Aga Khan tournament in the 1970s.
The great hockey player had caught a bout of jaundice in the last few months. More tweets followed as the news broke out.
Shahid had won India a gold medal at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. It was the last time India won a gold medal at the Games. Former Olympics shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore also took to twitter after hearing about the saddening news.
Shahid died at 10:45am on Wednesday morning at the age of just 56. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also expressed her sadness over the news and passed condolences to the family and friends of the legend.
Shahid was in the hospital since the end of June when he had complained of stomach ache. It turned out that he had serious liver problems.
Shahid hailed from the city of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and his body will be taken to his hometown for cremation. Cricketer Shikhar Dhawan also paid his tributes to one of the best players of all time.
