Calcutta: Sheikh Jamshed Ali, the first Arjuna Awardee in golf, passed away on Tuesday, having lost his long gruelling battle with cancer and poverty simultaneously. He was 53 and is survived by his wife, son and five daughters.

After he was detected with throat cancer two years ago, he made appeals to various people and associations to contribute generously to the cost of his treatment. The members of the RCGC responded to his appeal and raised a fund for him.

In a recent appeal, he said: “After reviewing my case, doctors said that the disease is at an advanced stage. But I have firm belief that proper medical treatment can add some more years to my life”.

He had been released from Thakurpukur Cancer Hospital after chemotherapy three weeks ago, but was readmitted three days back when his conditions worsened. He succumbed to the injury on Tuesday morning.

Arjun Atwal described his death as “a very sad incident.” “I didn’t know he was suffering from cancer. Somebody told me about his sorry plight only last night when I landed here,” Atwal said on Tuesday.

Lakshman Singh said: “He was born in an era where golf was not a paying sport. He was top-level in the profession and early in the seventies, I was very lucky to have played alongside him when I was an amateur and he was a professional. We had clashed a couple of times, and he always got thebetter of me. May God rest his soul in peace.”

The first Indian on the US PGA Tour, however, admitted that he didn’t have an association with the country’s first professional golfer. “I must have met him when I was a kid,” Atwal said.

Jamshed came of a poor background and grew up in a bustee next to the RCGC. He started off as a caddie and soon made his presence felt on the greens.

He was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 1975.

With golf generating not much money in those days, Jamshed never prospered financially.

Yet, like many other players of that time, he used to play solely for the love of the sport. He even served as a golf coach in RCGC for some time.

His son Sheikh Amjad Ali, himself an aspirant golfer, works as a caddie and earns Rs. 50 per day, which was less than a pittance to feed an ailing man.

After all, an Arjuna Award ?winner deserved a more dignified life than this.