Cheruvari Lakshmanan

Major General Dr. Cheruvari Kottieth Lakshmanan, known simply as CK, was an Indian all-round sportsman who competed in athletics and cricket. Lakshmanan became the first Malayalee athlete to compete at the Olympics when he participated at the 1924 Paris Games. Hailing from Kannur in the state of Kerala he took part in the All India Olympic Games in Delhi in 1924 where he won the 120 yards hurdles. These national games were used as the selection process for the Paris Olympics, which took place five months later. Lakshmanan ran in the 110 metres hurdles in Paris where he was eliminated in the heats. He was also scheduled to compete in the 400 metres hurdles, two relay races, the high jump, and the long jump, but did not start in any of those.

As a cricketer Lakshmanan was an opening bowler who played in first-class matches for Madras, Indians, and the Indian XI from 1926 to 1931. He made his first-class début in January 1926 in a three-day match played between the Indians and the Europeans. The fixture was the annual Madras Presidency Match with Humphrey Ward captaining the Europeans. Three years later Lakshmanan played in the same fixture between the two sides where he claimed his only five-wicket haul in a first-class match. January 1931 saw him play in his final first-class game during another Madras Presidency Match between the Europeans and Indians.

Outside of sport Lakshmanan studied medicine in England before returning to India to serve in the Army as a Major General. During the British rule of India he became the director general of health services in the country. Through his medical work he was elected as a member of the executive board of the World Health Organisation in 1956. Lakshmanan’s career went from strength to strength, with him also becoming the secretary general of the Indian Red Cross and the executive officer of the International Red Cross from 1958 until 1969.

In 1967 Lakshmanan was bestowed with the Padma Bhushan award for his work in medicine, the highest civilian award in India. He died three years later in October 1970 in Delhi. In August 2008 a bust of Lakshmanan was unveiled by the footballer Menon Chandrasekhar at the Jawahar Stadium in Kannur.

Personal Best: 110H – 16.0 (1924).