Gautam Sarkar to be awarded Mohun Bagan Ratna; Vishal Kaith, Dimitri Petratos among other awardees

Sarkar, who had the distinction of leading Mohun Bagan and arch-rivals East Bengal in the 70s, will be given the club’s highest honour at the Mohun Bagan Day celebrations on July 30.

Gautam Sarkar during the 1983 Federation Cup football championship in Cannaore. | Photo Credit: THE HINDU ARCHIVES

Former India midfielder Gautam Sarkar, who made headlines for man-marking the legendary Pele in an exhibition match against New York Cosmos in 1977, will be conferred with the ‘Mohun Bagan Ratna’.

The 73-year-old, who had the distinction of leading Mohun Bagan and arch-rivals East Bengal in the 70s, will be given the club’s highest honour at the Mohun Bagan Day celebrations on July 30. The annual affair has been postponed by a day due to Muharram.

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Known as the ‘Beckenbauer of Indian football’, Sarkar started out his career with Kidderpore SC and then Aryans.

Sarkar was snapped by East Bengal where he played a key role in their treble run in 1972.

He then joined Mohun Bagan and achieved the feat in 1977. He represented Mohun Bagan till 1983, but only to return to East Bengal.

Mohun Bagan at its executive committee meeting on Saturday also picked Dimitri Petratos for the Subhas Bhowmick Award for the Best forward and Arnab Nandi for Arun Lal Award for the Best Cricketer of the season.

The club further announced that they would open the ‘Anjan Mitra Media Centre’ in honour of their late general secretary on Thursday.

THE AWARDS

Mohun Bagan Ratna: Gautam Sarkar; Lifetime Achievement: Shankar Banerjee; Best Footballer (Senior): Vishal Kaith (Shibdas Bhaduri Award); Best Cricketer (Senior): Arnab Nandi (Arun Lal Award); Best Sports Official: Nabab Bhattacharya (Anjan Mitra Award); Best Sports Journalist: Jayanta Chakraborty (Moti Nandi Award); Best Striker: Dimitri Petratos (Subhas Bhowmick Award); Best Athlete: Ms Mohor Mukherjee (Pranab Banerjee Award); Best Youth Footballer: Engson Singh; Best Hockey Player: Nitish Neupane; Best Supporter: Shanti Chakraborty and Kamalesh Upadhyay.