Sports Day 2024
On Tuesday, 13 August 2024, “Sports Day” was celebrated in remembrance of the 85th birth anniversary of the late East Bengal Club secretary, Deepak (Paltu) Das. On this occasion, various programmes were organised from 10:00 AM at the East Bengal Club tent.
From 2:30 PM onwards, an exhibition football match was held on the club ground between former footballers of the club. In the match, Paltu Das XI defeated Jiban Chakraborty XI by 1–0. The winning goal was scored by Alvito D’Cunha.
From 4:30 PM, a felicitation ceremony was held at the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra.
The event began with a moment of silence in memory of former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and former Executive Committee member of the club, Chinmoy Biswas.
A welcome address was delivered by Club President Murari Lal Lohia.
Dr. Pranab Dasgupta was honoured by Club President Murari Lal Lohia and Club Secretary Rupak Saha.
Kalyan Majumdar was honoured by Club President Murari Lal Lohia, Club Secretary Rupak Saha, and Joint Secretary Dr. Shantiranjan Dasgupta.
Eminent author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay delivered the Deepak (Paltu) Das Memorial Lecture and was felicitated by Vice President Kalyan Majumdar, Secretary Rupak Saha, and Joint Secretary Dr. Shantiranjan Dasgupta.
Honourable Minister of State for Sports, Government of West Bengal, Shri Aroop Biswas, attended as the chief guest and was felicitated by Club President Murari Lal Lohia, Vice President Ajay Krishna Chatterjee, and Club Secretary Rupak Saha.
Aditya Agarwal and Manish Goenka of Emami Group were conferred club membership. On behalf of Manish Goenka, Bibhas Agarwal received the honour. The membership was handed over by Sports Minister Shri Aroop Biswas, Club President Murari Lal Lohia, Club Secretary Rupak Saha, and Debabrata Sarkar.
Best Female Athlete of the Year – Jhuma Basu, felicitated by former Indian women’s cricket captain Jhulan Goswami.
Best Male Athlete of the Year – Karna Bag, felicitated by Jhulan Goswami.
The best players from the 5th to 1st Divisions were honoured by Club Vice President Rahul Todi, IFA President Ajit Banerjee, and CAB President Snehasish Ganguly:
1st Division Best Player 2023 – Shafik Ali Gain (New Alipore Suruchi Sangha)
2nd Division Best Player 2023 – Swarnadip Sangma (Adams United)
3rd Division Best Player 2023 – Bifal Sardar (Southern AC)
4th Division Best Player 2023 – Prabhas Mondal (West Bengal Association of the Deaf)
5th Division Best Player 2023 – Samik Biswas (Ariadaha Sporting Club)
Best Hockey Player of the Year – Pradeep Singh More, felicitated by Club Hockey Coach Yograj Singh and CAB President Snehasish Ganguly.
The ‘Bharat Gaurav’ Award was conferred upon Leander Paes, the first Asian male tennis player to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He was honoured by Sports Minister Shri Aroop Biswas, former club players Bhaskar Ganguly, Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Mihir Bose, Alok Mukherjee, Prashanta Banerjee, Bikash Panji, Sumit Mukherjee, Alvito D’Cunha, Sambaran Banerjee, CAB President Snehasish Ganguly, Club Secretary Rupak Saha, and Debabrata Sarkar. On stage, Leander Paes also participated in a talk show with senior journalist Gautam Bhattacharya.
Footballs were distributed to various football coaching centres.
Former club players were also honoured, with Club President Murari Lal Lohia presenting each of them with a wristwatch as a token of respect.
Indian football team’s star defender Anwar Ali officially signed with East Bengal Club. He entered the stage alongside Debabrata Sarkar and was presented with the No. 4 club jersey by Sports Minister Shri Aroop Biswas, tennis legend Leander Paes, Club President Murari Lal Lohia, Secretary Rupak Saha, Emami Group executives Aditya Agarwal, Bibhas Agarwal, Sandeep Agarwala, and former defender Deepak Mondal.
The entire programme was hosted by senior journalist Gautam Bhattacharya and Sharmishtha Goswami Chatterjee.On Tuesday, 13 August 2024, “Sports Day” was celebrated at the East Bengal Club tent to commemorate the 85th birth anniversary of the late East Bengal Club secretary, Deepak (Paltu) Das.
From 2:30 PM onwards, an exhibition football match was held on the club ground between former footballers of the club. In the match, Paltu Das XI defeated Jiban Chakraborty XI by 1–0. The winning goal was scored by Alvito D’Cunha.
Players of Paltu Das XI – Naseem Akhtar, Surya Bikash Chakraborty, Soumik Dey, Arnab Mondal, Madhab Das, Mehtab Hossain, Amit Das, Syed Rahim Nabi, Snehashish Chakraborty, Alvito D’Cunha, Sadiq, Anit Ghosh, Jayanta Sen, Abid Hossain, Subhashis Roy Chowdhury, Bishwanath Mondal, Habibur Rahman, Sandeep Das, Debashish Pal Chowdhury.
Players of Jiban Chakraborty XI – Sangram Mukherjee, Debabrata Roy, Subhash Chakraborty, Safar Sardar, Deepak Mondal, Bhola Prasad, Dipankar Roy, Shasthi Dule, Asim Biswas, Dipendu Biswas, Arpan Dey, Debjit Ghosh, Tushar Rakshit, Sanjay Majhi, Kabir Bose, Amitava Chandra, Dulal Biswas.
The responsibilities of referee and assistant referees were handled by former referees Chittadas Majumdar, Kalidas Mukherjee, and Subrata Sarkar.
Among those present were former players Shyam Thapa, Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Bhaskar Ganguly, Mihir Bose, Alok Mukherjee, Prashanta Banerjee, Bikash Panji, Sumit Mukherjee, Atanu Bhattacharya, and many others.
