New Delhi/UNI: India's first Dronacharya awardee coach in boxing, O P Bhardwaj, passed away on Friday after battling a prolonged illness.
The 82-year-old was bestowed the highest national honour in coaching jointly with Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat (wrestling) and O M Nambiar (athletics) when it was introduced in 1985.
Boxing Federation of India (BFI) President Ajay Singh condoled his demise.
"O P Bharadwaj ji has been a flag-bearer for the sport of boxing. As a Coach, he inspired a generation of boxers, and coaches while as a selector, his work has been visionary and unparalleled," Singh said.
"I join my colleagues in the Boxing Federation of India to mourn this irreplaceable loss and pray for his eternal peace," he added.
Bhardwaj was India's national boxing coach from 1968 to 1989 and also served as a selector.
Under his tutelage, Indian boxers won medals at the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the South Asian Games.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.