Sport - Sports : General

Rekha Mallick dead

BANGALORE: Rekha Mallick, former captain of the Karnataka women’s basketball team, who was suffering from cancer, passed away here on Saturday night. She was 40 and leaves behind her two children and her husband.

Rekha was one of the most outstanding players from the stable of Mounts Club, the premier women’s team in Bangalore and had represented the State in junior and senior ranks from 1979 to 1989 and had also played for Rest of India.

As a pivot and skipper, she had led the team to some memorable triumphs.

Former India captain and president of the Mounts Club Nandini Basappa said: “it is a great personal loss. She deserved a place in the Indian team, which, however, never came her way.”

Her former teammates Jaywnathi Shyam and Nivedita Rajan said: “an irreparable loss to us. A great teammate and a close friend.”

L.R. Vaidyanathan, former secretary of the Mounts Club and Rekha’s mentor, said: “she was a brilliant pivot and nobody could take a rebound like Rekha did in her prime. She contributed a lot for the State team.”

The Karnataka State Basketball Association also mourned the demise of Rekha Mallick. — Special Correspondent

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu