A. Palanisamy

A. Palanisamy was born on 15 July 1936 in Madurai. He hailed from Kallampatti near Melur from Madurai into a farmers family.

Through his diligent efforts and resolute passion he was able to pursue a career in volleyball.

Here are some of the Glimpses of his major achievements in his lifetime.

• He took pride by representing our Indian railways team and won first national championship at Tata Nagar in 1958.
• He was selected in our Indian team to participate at the Ceylon games in Srilanka in 1959.
• He captained the Indian railways team and was the first Tamilan to receive the National Championship  at Madras in 1960 in front of the home crowd.
• He is considered to be the best in Indian history of this sport. So, He was the first player to receive Arjuna Award in 1961 in the volleyball category.
• On  the heels of all this success, He won silver medal at Asian Games held in Jakarta in 1962.
• Proving virtually unstoppable and raised to be the Black Panther of India. Known for his ferocious attacks in Asian games.
• He also won 3rd place in Pre-Olympic games held at Delhi in 1963.

Not limiting his achievement, to uplift the thriving young talents to a professional players, he also served as a coach for Sivagangai district in Tamil Nadu before retiring in 1998.

This spirited soul rested in peace on 12 Nov 2007.  Lets Salute the Black Panther of India Mr. A. Palanisamy  who became the  pride of Madurai.