Kamat, Narvekar condoles Sardesai's death

Panaji, July 3 (UNI) Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat and state Finance Minister Dayanand Narvekar today condoled the death of former India middle-order batsman Dilip Sardesai, who passed away after brief illness in Mumbai last night.

Mr Kamat, in his message, said ''I had a personal relation with Mr Sardesai and he was always my well wisher. His contribution to the Indian cricket was great and even our state has became poorer by his death.'' In his message, Mr Narvekar, who is vice president of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and president of Goa Cricket Association (GCA), said he was shocked by the news of Mr Sardesai's demise.

''The entire Goan cricket fraternity is quite saddened at the passing away of Mr Sardesai, someone who we had high regard for as a cricket and a human being. Our sympathies are with his wife and and family. We have certainly lost a great friend and well-wisher for which Goan cricket would be pooer,'' he said.

Recalling his last meeting with the former cricketer, Mr Narvekar said Mr Sardesai had come to his residence to wish him on his wedding anniversary on February 11. He was at his jovial best and made the occassion special by lending his presence to it.

GCA secretary Chetan Desai also expressed grief over Mr Sardesai's death.

Mr Desai, in his message, said ''I had wonderful relations with Mr Sardesai. He was a very focused man with a great love for the game and like a fatherly figure to the Goan cricket but what shone through was the great love he had for young players.'' The Sports Authority of Goa executive director V M Prabhudesai said Mr Sardesai's death is a great loss for the Goan cricket and he will forever be remembered as the ''Renaissance Man''.

UNI