Identifying and mentoring hockey legends for nearly
four decades earned Merzban Patel the Dronacharya Award
Parinaz Gandhi
He was guarding a nondescript brown paper bag as he would a goal post. It shielded 69-year-old hockey mentor Merzban Patel’s prized possessions: Three photographs of him, attired in a suit and tie for the first time in his life, receiving the Dronacharya Award from the President of India Ramnath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on August 29, 2019. Five weeks later when Parsiana interviewed him at the Vile Parle railway station on October 7, he candidly shared information about himself and his views on sports training in India. He declined, however, to part with his hard......