Om Prakash Bhardwaj

Om Prakash Bhardwaj (18 March 1942[1] – 21 May 2021[2]) was an Indian boxing coach. In 1985, he was awarded the Dronacharya Award, India's highest award in the field of coaching of sports and athletics.[3] He is India's first Dronacharya awardee coach for boxing.

Om Prakash Bhardwaj
Statistics
Born(1942-03-18)18 March 1942
Died21 May 2021(2021-05-21) (aged 79)

Bhardwaj was national coach from 1968 to 1989. During this time, Indian boxers had been on top of the medals tally in the Asian Games (1970–1986), Mini Commonwealth Games (Brisbane, 1982), Kings Cup (Bangkok, 1982) and SAF Games (Calcutta, 1987).

He was the founder of the Boxing Coaching Department at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, where he was chief coach from 1975 to 1988. He trained around 15,000 boxers in India.[4] Bhardwaj also taught some basic boxing techniques to Rahul Gandhi.[5]

References
  1. "India's first Dronacharya awardee boxing coach OP Bhardwaj, who stood in legendary Muhammad Ali's corner, dies aged 82". Times Of India. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  2. "Indian boxing's first Dronacharya awardee coach O P Bhardwaj dies". Inside port. 21 May 2021.
  3. "List of awardees of the Dronacharya award". Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs. Archived from the original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
  4. G. S. Paul (1 March 2006). "First Dronacharya awardee". Chandigarh Tribune. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  5. "Rahul Gandhi, the boxer, is extremely fit". The Indian Express. 26 May 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2017.


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