Arjuna Awardee Anil Kumar Punj passes away

New Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI) Anil Kumar Punj, a formerbasketball player and an Arjuna awardee passed away heretoday, according to Basketball Federation of India (BFI).

He was 63 years old.

Punj had an illustrious career in the Border SecurityForce from 1968 to 2004 from where he retired as Commandant.

He was conferred the Arjuna Award in 1976 and PoliceMedal for Meritorious Services 1992. He was also decoratedwith the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award by the Punjab governmentin 1986.

He participated in the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok andtwo Asian Basketball Championships - 1971 (Tokyo) and 1973(Manila).

"Anil Kumar Punj was a highly talented, brilliant andrespected player. He was famed for his sportsmanship and foralways gave his best to the team," a BFI release said.

"This is great loss to basketball in India. Anil KumarPunj was a legendary basketball player," Harish Sharma, theSecretary-General of the BFI said in the release.

During his career Punj bagged two gold, four silver and

The Punjab Basketball Association (PBA), in a specialmeeting presided over by President R.S. Gill, IPS (Retd.),condoled the sudden demise of Punj.

Teja Singh Dhaliwal, the Secretary-General of the PBA,said, "It is a sad moment for the basketball society. We havelost a great player and a great friend." PTI AT