[Assam] SR Phookun remembered

[Dilip Deka]

Suren Phookun rose from being a Guwahati League football (soccer) referee to an international cricket umpire in my lifetime. I remember how we school students used to copy and have fun with Suren Phookun's hand signals in soccer, including pointing finger at players committing foul. The netters who grew up in Guwahati in the early sixties will relate to the experience better.
Later Suren Phookun was a regular letter writer in the Assam Tribune and I always looked forward to reading them. He also chronicled Guwahati history in the newspaper via articles on a number of Assam leaders who hailed from the city. I'll forever remember SR Phookun.
May his soul rest in peace.
Dilip Deka, Houston, Texas
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SR Phookun remembered
Sports reporter
 GUWAHATI, Jan 23 – In a memorial meeting at the Nehru Stadium here today, jointly organised by Assam Cricket Association and Assam Sports Journalist Association, homage was payed to eminent sports personality Suren Ram Phookun who died on January 19. 
The meeting was attended by several noted sports organisers, sportspersons, Phookun’s daughters and a large number of his well wishers. 
Persons like Pulin Das, Premadhar Sharma, Bikash Baruah, Gilbertson Sangma, Pradip Hazarika (Director General of Sports Authority of Assam), Ghanashyam Baruah, Satyen Bora, Prabir Hazarika, Pradip Kr Hazarika (secretary, Nagaon Sports Association), Balendra Mohan Chakravorty, Abdul Latif, Taibun Nisha, Lila Gogoi, Nabab Ali threw light on different aspects of Phookun’s life. 
While Premadha Sharma and Satyen Bora explained their association with Phookun as radio commentators, Abdul Latif and Gilbertson Sangma spoke about their experiences with him as football referee when they were playing.