Dr. Vece Paes, the Renaissance man of Indian sports and a bronze medalist in the Olympics and Hockey World Cup-winning team, passed away on 14 August 2025. He was 80 years old, and the cause of his death was Parkinson's disease and age-related complications. A versatile player, Vece Paes also played divisional cricket, football, and rugby.

About Dr. Vece Paes

Dr. Vece Paes was Born on 30 April 1945 in Goa, Vece Paes completed his schooling in Bengaluru, where he was an excellent athlete and excelled in hockey.
In 1963, he moved to Kolkata to study medicine and, like his father and three siblings, became a doctor.
He studied at St. Xavier’s College and Presidency University before completing his MBBS from the prestigious Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital under the University of Calcutta.
He was a member of India’s bronze medal-winning hockey team at the 1972 Munich Olympics and a member of the 1996 Olympic bronze medal-winning team.

Hockey Career of Vece Paes

A shrewd midfielder of the Indian hockey team in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dr. Paes was known for his vision, composure, and ability to blend defensive and attacking play.
He represented legendary clubs like East Bengal and Mohun Bagan and proved himself as a talented player, winning several domestic titles such as the Beighton Cup and the Calcutta League.
This earned him a place in the Indian hockey team for the Hamburg International Cup in Germany in 1966, where he made his international debut. At that time, he was still a pre-medical student.
This was the beginning of his nearly decade-long international career, during which he became one of the national team’s most reliable midfielders.
The most important moment of Vece Paes’s sporting career came at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where he helped India win a bronze medal, in addition to the bronze medal won at the first Hockey World Cup held in Barcelona in 1971.

Involvement in Other Sports

A versatile sportsman, Vece Paes also played divisional cricket, football, and rugby. Rugby, in particular, became his lifelong passion.
He represented the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club in the sport and later served as president of the Indian Rugby Football Union from 1996 to 2002.

Dr. Paes’ Contribution to Medicine & Administration

Due to his medical expertise, Dr. Paes worked with athletes from various sports, helping them recover from injuries and advance their careers.
He also worked as a medical advisor for the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF), and as the team doctor of the Indian Davis Cup team.
Dr. Vece Paes’s expertise was also widely seen in cricket, as he introduced anti-doping and age-verification systems as Sports Medicine Advisor for the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) between 2001 and 2009.
Later, he led the BCCI’s national anti-doping efforts. Administrators like Ratnakar Shetty credited him with changing the BCCI’s approach to player welfare.

His Legacy - Leander Paes

His son, Leander Paes, went on to become one of India’s most prestigious tennis players. Leander ended India’s 44-year wait for an individual Olympic medal by winning the men’s singles bronze at Atlanta 1996 and won 18 Grand Slam doubles titles.