Ailing coach Roy wants recognition, not money

Satya Ranjan Roy, one of the most respected athletic coaches the state has produced, has been suffering from the debilitating disease for five years now, and his condition has only been worsening by the day, so much so that Roy is these days having extreme difficulty in even talking.

Although the athletics community knew about Roy’s pathetic condition over the last five-year period, and ever since the first symptoms began showing, no one from the athletics circuit, not even the Amateur Athletics Association of West Bengal (AAAWB), seemed to have taken any initiative to help the former coach out.

It’s only now that things have gone almost out of hand for the ailing Roy, that some people from different quarters athletics community in Bengal are slowly showing some keenness to come forward and offer help.

The Athletic Coaches Association of Bengal (ACAB) had last month handed over Rs 10,000 to Roy’s sister, who is looking after the coach at his Kanchrapara residence. Asked about the issue, ACAB secretary Swapan Raha told The Indian Express this evening: “We had met him long back, in 2002 when the disease started having its effect on him. After that, we again got to know two months back that his condition has aggravated. So, we handed some money to his sister. He is presently following the guidelines of Apollo hospital.”

Interestingly, despite people slowly taking note of Roy’s predicament and willing to offer financial help, the former coach and his family are in no mood to crave for money, despite the stifling treatment expenses.

One of his most prominent students of Roy, Gulam Kibria, told this daily that what his coach deserves but never quite got was recognition. “The only thing he wants is recognition, not any monitory help,” Kibria said.

Some of Roy’s successful wards like former international athletes Kibria, Kabita Garari, Sujit Mukherjee, Poly Nandi and Purabi Nag, had formed a separate body to raise money for their coach as a tribute. However, Roy himself had disapproved of the plan, forcing his dedicated students not to go ahead with it.

Instead, the students are now trying to ensure Roy gets some useful recognition in his twilight years. Kibria said: “He has produced at least 10 athletes of international class, including Jyotirmoyee Sikdar. So why shouldn’t he be awarded with the Dronacharya or the Nambiar? We have already sent letters to state sports minister Subhas Chakrabarty, MP Adhir Chowdhury, the Union sports ministry as well as to the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to consider him for the Dronacharya.”

ACAB also has made a similar appeal. But no response has come from either the government or the federation. Serving as MP and working president of the AAAWB, Roy’s most renowned student Jyotirmoyee could not be contacted though.