Elvera Britto, doyenne of women's hockey, no more

Former India captain had donned many hats in illustrious careerBENGALURU: In the late 1950s, when Karnataka was still Mysore and the only driving force to play sport was passion, a sight to behold was girls on rickety bicycles with hockey sticks slung on their backs making a beeline to the Sullivan Police grounds here. Among the girls were the Britto sisters – Priscilla, Elvera, Rita and Mae — often referred to as the first family of Karnataka hockey. Barring Priscilla, the other three wore the India colours with distinction, but the most celebrated among them was Elvera. The 81-year-old former India captain and proven administrator passed away on Tuesday morning following a heart attack at the city hospital where she was admitted last week. The demise of the prolific player brought the curtain down on a glorious chapter not just in Karnataka but Indian hockey. The 1960s heralded the golden era of women's hockey in the state, and one of the leading lights of that era was Elvera.

File Pic: Elvera Britto receiving Arjuna AwardBorn on June 15, 1940, Elvera grew up in the leafy bylanes of Lloyd Road in Cooke Town. A student of St Francis Xavier's Girls School, Elvera turned to hockey at the age of 13 after realising that her prospects in athletics – her first love — as a middle-distance runner were bleak. A left-half with abundant talent and admirable finesse, Elvera broke into the big league along with her sisters when they represented the erstwhile Mysore at a national-level school tournament in 1960, which the state won on debut. There was no looking back for Elvera, the Britto sisters or the state hockey team, which won the national crown a record eight times on the trot and triggered tremendous interest among the fans.