Senior sports scribe Vijaykar no more

Mumbai: Senior sports scribe Pradeep Vijaykar, an assistant editor with the Times of India, died here last night after losing his fight with cancer of the pancreas.

He was 59 and is survived by his wife and two daughters. A versatile journalist, Vijaykar had covered several major international cricket events like the cricket World Cup, both at home and overseas, and was also a very keen reporter of indoor sports like squash, billiards, snooker, table tennis and horse racing. He also served as President of Press Club, Mumbai and was former VP of the Sports Journalist Federation of India. His enthusiasm for anything sporting led him to report on various games during his nearly four decade-long career with TOI, starting as a cub reporter who came through its journalism school before going on to become one of its pillars in sports coverage. Vijaykar was not averse to wield a camera too in his keenness not to miss any big sports event in Mumbai. A capable club level cricketer who could bat, bowl and also keep wickets, he was in the star-studded St Xavier`s College team that had Sunil Gavaskar as its star members and was very proud of this association with one of the legends of Indian cricket. Vijaykar was very eager to report on the forthcoming cricket World Cup to be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from February 19, but fate has willed otherwise. His funeral was held at the Shivaji Park crematorium here. PTI