Vece Paes (Leander Paes’ Father)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vece Paes

• Vece Paes was an Indian hockey player. He was part of the Indian hockey team in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Vece was a certified doctor of sports medicine. He also served as the president of the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club.

• Vece played as a midfielder in the Indian hockey team. He was a part of the Indian hockey team that won a bronze medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Then, 24 years later, his son, Leander Paes, won a bronze medal in tennis.

• His wife, Jennifer Paes, is a former basketball player. She used to be Jennifer Dutton before marriage. She played for India in the 1972 Olympics and was the captain of the basketball team in 1982. She comes from a well-known family in Bengal. Her great-grandfather was a famous Bengali poet named Michael Madhusudan Dutt.

• According to Vece Paes, his mother, Marlaque Paes, belonged to Velim, and his father, Dr Peter Paes, belonged to Assolna in Goa.

• Vece Paes owned his mother’s large house in Velim, and he often visited it with his family for vacations. They lived in Mumbai. Like many other Goan Catholic families from the AVC villages (Assolna, Velim, Cuncolim), Leander’s grandfather, Dr. Peter Paes, had worked in Africa. Dr Peter Paes was a doctor in Arusha, Tanzania, for a long time. Later, he returned to live with his son Vece Paes in Kolkata.

• In 1964 and 1965, Vece Paes was preparing for medical studies at Presidency College in Calcutta. From 1974 to 1983, he worked as a general surgeon in the medical field. From 1984 to 2000, he practised corporate medicine and sports medicine in Calcutta.

  

• Vece Paes was part of the Indian Hockey Team from 1965 to 1972. He participated in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and the 1971 Barcelona World Cup. Apart from hockey, he also played various other sports like Cricket, Soccer, Hockey, and Rugby at the divisional level. He served as the President of the Indian Rugby Football Union from 1996 to 2002.

• From 1991, Vece Paes served as a Sports Medical Consultant for the Indian Tennis Association. He then worked with the All India Football Association from 1996 to 2001. He also provided medical assistance to the Indian Olympic Association during the Olympic Games, starting with Sydney in 2000, and at the Asian Games, beginning with Hiroshima in 1994.

  

• Vece Paes is admired in the sports world for his outstanding contributions to the Asian Cricket Council and the BCCI. He had done excellent work, especially in overseeing anti-doping education programs.

• In 2022, a match titled ‘Dr Vece Paes Cricket Cup’ was organised in Kolkata that celebrated Vece Paes’ life. Leander Paes, Yusuf Pathan, and Dr Vece Paes were clicked by the media while flaunting their jerseys before the cricket match at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club.

  

• Paes passed away at the age of 80 on 14 August 2025. He had been suffering from advanced-stage Parkinson’s disease and was admitted to Kolkata’s Woodlands Hospital on 12 August 2025.