Former Santosh Trophy star player A Srinivasan passes away aged 53

KANNUR: Former state football player and Mangattuparamba Kerala Armed Police 4th Battalion Commandant A. Srinivasan (53) passed away. He was undergoing treatment at Unity Hospital in Mangalore due to a heart ailment. After a public viewing at the Mangattuparamba Battalion Headquarters at 10 am on Thursday, the mortal remains will be taken to Srinivasan’s residence in Athazhakunnu at 11 am. The cremation will be at the community crematorium in Kottaly at 3 pm.

Srinivasan, who joined the Kerala Police as an Assistant Sub-Inspector in 1992, later rose to become the Commandant of the 4th Battalion of the KAP.

Srinivasan's football career began at the age of 19, when he represented India in the Asian Junior Team. While studying at the G.V. Raja Sports School in Thiruvananthapuram, he represented the school team in the Subrado Cup football held in Delhi in 1986, 1987 and 1988. In 1988, he scored a goal for the Kerala school team in the National School Football Competition held in Jammu.

Srinivasan then became the vice-captain of the Kerala team in the 1988 Palakkad Junior National Football Competition and the 1989 Under-19 National Junior Football Championship held in Shillong. He was selected for the Fact Football Team in 1989 and the Junior Indian Football Camp in 1990. The Kannur native’s sheer skill with the ball and understanding of the game brought him the best player award in the tournament held at the Tata Football Academy in Jamshedpur.

The winning goal he scored for the Indian team against Mali in the qualifying round of the Asian Junior Championship held in Kozhikode in 1990 is etched in the annals of Indian football history. In the same year, Srinivasan played full-time for India in the final round of the Asian Youth Football Championship held in Jakarta against North Korea, Qatar and Indonesia.

He was a member of the Kerala team in the Santosh Trophy held in Coimbatore in 1991 and joined the Kerala Police football team in 1992. He participated in the 1992 Ernakulam Santosh Trophy and the Senior Indian Team Camp at the 1992 SAFF Games. He scored several goals for Kerala Police in the Lucknow National Police Games and led the team to a third-place finish. In the 1995 Bombay National Football Championship, he proved his mettle, helping Kerala grab the runner-up title.

Srinivasan played for Kerala Police in the 1994 Goa Federation Cup and the 1996 Kozhikode Federation Cup. His hat-trick against Kolkata Mohammedans Sporting in the 1995 Caesars Cup football match held in Kozhikode saw one of the finest ever performances from the Kerala Police team.

Family:

Wife: Beena (Pharmacist, PHC Parassinkkadavu). Children: Vishnu (student, Ernakulam), Ameesha (Forensic Science student, Bengaluru).