Green Hornet loses its pillar: Die-hard sports enthusiast Sishutosh Basak is no more

The demise of Sports Administrator Shishutosh Basak has wrecked the sports fraternity of the entire valley. Popularly known as Shishu Da, he was suffering from senile conditions and other ageing ailments for a long time. He was admitted to a nursing home in Silchar, where he breathed his last on Thursday, at around 2 in the afternoon. The 78 year old’s death is a huge loss for the valley, as he was a person connected with the roots of sports.

Born on January 7, 1944, sports was his first love since his formative years. He started his sporting career with inter-school matches during the 60s of the last century. Later, he also played football for Tarun Sangha, Silchar Sporting and Town Club, Silchar. Gradually he set his foot towards the Sports administration, where he dedicated the rest of his life to its development. It was more of activism that he offered.

During his initial years in the Association, he understood that to develop Sports in this area, he had to start from the roots, that is the villages. He would bring handpicked sports persons from rural and remote villages to the District Sports Association and later on train and nurture them. Later on, he became the Secretary of Tarun Sangha, an office he held for two years, from 1964. It was during his tenure that he started his rural expedition for players. Be it the tea estates of Labac or the remote villages on Panchglram, he has left no place untouched in his search. There has been no tournament in the villages, where he was not present. It was also during his tenure only that Rongmeis played football in the fields of Silchar. Chengcoorie’s Nepal, Kabuis were also scouted by Basak.

After Tarun Sangha, the die-hard sports lover has also worked for Silchar Sporting Club and Town Club. During that time he has expanded his network as a recruiter further. After that, he was invited to be the recruiter for the Green Hornet Club. At the request of Shantanu Choudhury, Ashutosh Debnath and Uttam Paul, he joined the club in 1983. Since then he has been with the Green Hornet. Gradually he became Secretary of the Club and later the President, a role he played until his death.

He has been associated with the District Sports Association since the 60s. Due to this lifelong contribution to the sports fraternity, he was awarded the Sports Pension in 2011.