This story is from August 9, 2020

Sunil Chhetri and Renedy Singh join hands to support Manitombi's family

Following a prolonged illness, which kept him admitted to a private hospital in Imphal for about a month, former India international and Mohun Bagan captain Manitombi Singh breathed his last late on Saturday night in the Manipur capital.
Sunil Chhetri and Renedy Singh join hands to support Manitombi's family
Manitombi Singh (Photo courtesy - AIFF's Twitter post)
KOLKATA: Following a prolonged illness, which kept him admitted to a private hospital in Imphal for about a month, former India international and Mohun Bagan captain Manitombi Singh breathed his last late on Saturday night in the Manipur capital. However, the nature of illness is not clear and his family is not ready to divulge any details yet.
His last rites were performed on Sunday morning near his home at Achanbigei village, about eight kilometre from Imphal.
He was only 39 years old and survived by his wife and eight-year-old son.
His longtime friend and India and Mohun Bagan teammate Renedy Singh told from Imphal that he along with current India captain Sunil Chhetri are trying to put together some monetary help for his family in these difficult times.
"We have played together in Mohun Bagan and in the national team and I have lots of memories with him. It’s very sad that he passed away so young and has a non-working wife and little son apart from his parents. He was admitted in the hospital for a long time so he must have spent a good amount of money there as well. Even Sunil called me in the morning. We all played together in Mohun Bagan and he was the captain. It’s our responsibility to stand by his family in this difficult time.
"We discussed about contributing for his cause and are trying to arrange money through players and FPAI now because we can’t play any match in his memory to raise money right now in this Covid-19 enforced situation. We can do that later when things normalise," said Renedy, who is the president of Football Players’ Association of India (FPAI).
"Don’t know what he was suffering from exactly but mentally he was always there in football, training young boys in the academies. Physically he looked weak for the last couple of years," rued Renedy.


Mohun Bagan, meanwhile, paid a rich tribute to their former skipper on a social networking site. "Mohun Bagan family is deeply saddened by the untimely demise of former club captain Manitombi Singh. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time. Rest in peace, Manitombi Singh," it added.
NEROCA FC coach Gift Raikhan said from Imphal, "I am deeply sad to hear the news in the morning today. We played together in small clubs here before he moved to bigger clubs like Salgaocar, Air India and then Mohun Bagan. His health was not good for a long time but he was coaching very well in local academies. A lot of youngsters developed under him here. It’s a great personal loss for me as well as Manipur and Indian football. My deepest condolences to his family."
NEROCA secretary Moirangthem Manimohon informed, "We will hold a condolence meet in his memory at the club house tomorrow (Monday) morning at 8.30am where about 20 people including players and officials will gather."
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