New Delhi: India's first Dronacharya awardee coach in boxing, O P Bhardwaj, died on Friday. He was battling with his prolonged illness and age-related issues here.

The 82-year-old had tragically lost his wife Santosh to ill-health about 10 days ago. After which his condition was not said to be much well. Bhardwaj was bestowed the highest national honour in coaching jointly with Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat (wrestling) and O M Nambiar (athletics). The award was introduced in 1985 and these legend were honoured. T L Gupta, a close family friend and a former boxing coach informed about the demise. He said, "He had been unwell for many days with a lot of health issues and was hospitalised. Age was a factor and there was also the shock of losing his wife about 10 days back.”

Talking about his career, Bhardwaj was India's national boxing coach and also served as a selector. Under his guidance, Indian pugilists won medals at the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the South Asian Games. A pioneer, Bhardwaj was the first chief instructor for boxing's diploma coaching course at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala. He was also a commentator and owned a gym in Delhi after retiring from NIS. In 2008, Bhardwaj had even taught some boxing techniques to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for a couple of months. Former national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who was among his first set of students at NIS, said the man from Chennai was a hands-on instructor. Boxing Federation of India President Ajay Singh also condoled his demise.

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