CHENNAI: Paying tribute to Peter Thangaraj, the legendary goalkeeper of the Indian football team, the Indian Army named the sports stadium at its Madras Regimental Centre at Wellington in The Nilgiris district after the late sports icon.
Havildar Peter Thangaraj of Madras Regimental Centre (MRC) represented India at the Asian Games, and also the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and 1960 Rome Olympics.
He was voted the Best Goalkeeper of Asia in 1956 and honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1967. He was a member of the MRC football team, the only regimental team to win the Durand Cup twice (1955 and 1958).
“In a fitting tribute to celebrate and remember the trailblazing contribution of this legend, the sports stadium at MRC, Wellington, has been named in his honour as the 'Thangaraj Stadium’,” the Army said in a statement here.
The stadium is the epicentre of sporting events of the station as well as for the schools of The Nilgiris district, it said.