Former National women’s hockey coach Antony passes away

P.P. Antony, former national women’s hockey coach who also trained and taught coaches at the Bengaluru SAI centre, passed away in Thrissur on Tuesday. He was 68.

A former Kerala State player, Antony helped the junior national women’s team win a four-nation tournament in the US in 1999 and a bronze at the Junior Asia Cup.

P.P. Antony, former national women’s hockey coach who also trained and taught coaches at the Bengaluru SAI centre, passed away in Thrissur on Tuesday. He was 68.

A former Kerala State player, Antony was the coach of the junior national women’s team for many years and helped the team win a four-nation tournament in the US in 1999 and a bronze at the Junior Asia Cup.

His impressive stint as the junior national coach prompted the then Indian Women’s Hockey Federation to hand over the reins of the senior national women’s team to him in 2001.

He leaves behind his wife Beena and son A.P. Francis. The funeral will be held at the Lourdes Metropolitan Church, Thrissur, on Friday afternoon. Mariamma Koshy, the president of Hockey India which now also governs women’s hockey, offered her condolences to Antony’s family