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Om Prakash Bhardwaj, boxing’s first Dronacharya Awardee coach who handed away on Friday, didn’t must step into the ring to pack a punch. A typewriter, as a substitute, would do the job for him.
From a tour to Russia within the Seventies, Bhardwaj introduced one with him to Patiala and utilizing only one finger to kind his letters, he routinely sparred with the federation over the amenities supplied to the boxers. “Ceaselessly, his letters used to land on the federation workplace and he wrote at any time when he desired,” says former secretary of the erstwhile Indian Newbie Boxing Federation, Ashok Gangopadhyay. “His checklist of calls for was lengthy but it surely was at all times in one of the best curiosity of the boxers.”
The identical boxers, whom he used to place by means of a ‘large amount of struggling’ in coaching. “He strapped weights to our our bodies and made us run for miles… typically within the sand. Very rigorous bodily coaching to make us stronger…” former India boxer-turned-coach Munuswamy Venu, who skilled beneath Bhardwaj, remembers.
These two aspects sum up Bhardwaj, thought of a pioneer in Indian boxing. He handed away in New Delhi because of a chronic sickness and age-related points, just a little greater than per week after shedding spouse Santosh. Bhardwaj was 82.
First indicators of success
He was India’s boxing coach from 1968 to 1989, a interval when India received dozens of worldwide medals, particularly on the Asian degree. The interval between 1970 and 1986 was notably profitable. A few of India’s most interesting yesteryear pugilists – together with Birender Thapa, Kaur Singh, J L. Pradhan, Hawa Singh, Jaipal Singh and MK Rai – started their careers beneath Bhardwaj.
A havaldar with the Military Bodily Coaching Corps (APTC), Bhardwaj was a boxer himself for a short interval earlier than turning into one of many first coaches to acquire a boxing diploma from the Nationwide Institute of Sports activities in Patiala. Quickly after, he took a plunge into teaching and remained within the position for the many years that adopted, in line with former IABF secretary-general Brigadier (Retd) PK Muralidharan Raja.
OP Bhardwaj“Again then, the Companies was a powerhouse in Indian boxing. There have been 12 weight classes in worldwide tournaments and all of the spots had been taken by Companies boxers, who dominated the nationwide championship and sometimes received the titles with out a lot bother,” Raja says. “Even among the many Companies males, the boxers from Military took up a majority of the positions.”
It additionally helped, Raja provides, that one of the vital influential individuals in Indian boxing administration on the time, Devine Jones, was additionally from the APTC. Jones was the Indian boxing staff’s coach on the 1972 Munich Video games, was one of many few worldwide referee-judges from the nation, and went on to turn into the federation’s secretary-general from the mid-70s to early 80s. “So other than his qualities as a coach, Bhardwaj additionally received help from the APTC and the federation,” Raja says.
Pragmatic method
Venu says that in absence of a lot teaching literature when it comes to ways and method, Bhardwaj’s main focus remained on producing boxers who had been bodily very robust. “He was extraordinarily hardworking and anticipated the identical from us. His coaching routine was very strict,” Venu says.
At instances, Bhardwaj would himself run miles along with his wards to push them much more. “He would at all times be concerned in regardless of the boxers did – be it working or sparring. He didn’t like to face within the nook and shout out directions,” says former India coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who was one in every of Bhardwaj’s college students on the Nationwide Institute of Sports activities.
In 1985, when the sports activities ministry launched the Dronacharya Award, Bhardwaj was feted together with Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat (wrestling) and O M Nambiar (athletics). “He ensured there was a gradual stream of boxers in an period when issues weren’t that straightforward. He laid the muse for us to turn into one of many higher groups on this planet in the present day,” Sandhu says.
The ripple impact of what Bhardwaj, who even taught some methods to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, did many years in the past is felt even in the present day. The boxers he skilled went on to turn into trainers themselves. From Sandhu to Venu to Shiv Singh, Bhardwaj’s pupils are carrying his legacy ahead.
Underneath Sandhu, India received its first Olympic medal when Vijender Singh claimed a bronze at Beijing 2008. “Though I by no means skilled beneath him, I used to be conscious of the impression Bhardwaj sir had on Indian boxing. I had heard tales of the form of arduous taskmaster he was and Sandhu sir, together with my different coaches who as soon as skilled beneath him, tried to implement plenty of his types,” Vijender says. “I ponder if we’d ever be ready to win an Olympic medal with out him. His arduous work has impressed many generations.”
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