JOIN USHe was 71 and is survived by his wife.
"I had gone out for my laughter club meeting this morning around 6 am and he was sleeping. I came back and rang the door bell but he did not open. I had to let myself in and found him dead," Sham's wife Lata told PTI.
In his career as a sports journalist, spanning more than 50 years, Sham covered several major events, including cricket World Cups, Test matches, India's cricket tour of Australia in 1985-86, Asian Games in Delhi in 1982 and the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988.
A no-holds-barred writer and columnist, Sham was Sports Editor of the Mumbai-based Free Press Journal for more than two decades during which he wrote a regular and highly popular Sunday column 'Point Blank' and took up cudgels in support of the betterment of sports all around.
Sham, who was a good footballer playing on the wings in younger days in school and college, did his graduation and then post graduation in Law from the Bombay University before joining the journalistic profession at FPJ under the then Sports Editor, the late Ron Hendricks, in the late 1950s.
He later became the paper’s Sports Editor and continued to hold the post for several years before shifting base to Hyderabad to head the Sports Department of the newly launched 'News Time'.
After a three-year stint with the paper, he returned to Mumbai to become the Sports Editor of another newly launched newspaper, Indian Post, in the late 1980s and then shifted to the 'Observer' before becoming a free lance journalist writing columns for newspapers including 'Arab News' of Saudi Arabia.
He was writing regular columns and pithy pieces in FPJ, his alma mater in the profession, till his death. He was also the former President of Bombay Press club and Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai.
Sham was a real all rounder, covering several sports, including horse racing, and was highly respected for his views in the sports fraternity. He also groomed several youngsters during his long stint as a senior sports journalist.
His funeral is scheduled later today.