The Sports Journalists' Federation of India (SJFI) condoled the death of Nirmal Shekar, former sports editor of The Hindu and former editor of Sportstar , here on Wednesday night.
The SJFI said, "the entire sports journalists’ fraternity across the country is saddened by the untimely demise of Mr. Nirmal Shekar. He was a great writer par excellence, often lifting the mundane to the exotic."
Sports minister Vijay Goel on Wednesday tweeted about Nirmal's untimely demise.
Just received the news that eminent >#sports journalist Nirmal Shekhar is no more. Prayers for the departed soul, condolences to his family.
— Vijay Goel (@VijayGoelBJP) >February 1, 2017
Former Central Bureau of Investigation chief and a columnist of The Hindu , R. K. Raghavan, said: "Nirmal passing away is a tragedy beyond words. I saw him on Monday at a party. He looked fit and was his usual cheerful self."
"He wrote brilliantly. His knowledge of tennis in particular was phenomenal. He could have done equally well in cricket. He was in the same mould as Neville Cardus, Jack Fingleton,and S. K. Gurunathan. He had so many more years to enliven sports lovers like me. We will miss him for a long long time to come," said Raghavan.
Popular cricket commentator also tweeted about Nirmal's death.
What! Nirmal Shekar no more? That is so sad. Fine tennis writer and part of that top team at the Hindu
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) >February 1, 2017
So did former racing champion Karun Chandhok
Very sad to hear about the passing of >@TheHindu stalwart Nirmal Shekar. Always enjoyed reading his work specially on tennis >#RIPNirmalShekar
— Karun Chandhok (@karunchandhok) >February 2, 2017
