With the death of Gayatri Devi at the age of 90, Jaipur has lost its oldest sports patron. Few women privileged to be born to riches and royalty
have loved sport the way the late Gayatri Devi did.
From trick-riding and show-jumping to playing badminton, tennis and squash, she did it all. A multi-faceted personality, she grew up to serve as president of the Badminton Association of India and vice-president of the All India Tennis Association.
Moving to Jaipur after her marriage to the legendary polo player Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II, she helped her husband lay the golf course at the Rambagh Palace.
Stories of her munificence are many, the most remembered one being her support to Davis Cupper Akhtar Ali, whom she spotted as a ball boy at Kolkata's South Club courts.
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