Dronacharya award recipient, athlete coach Lingappa no more
Bengaluru, Jun 18: Veteran athletics coach and Dronacharya awardee N Lingappa, credited with training several star athletes including sprinters Ashwini Nachappa and Vandana Rao, died here Tuesday, family sources said.
He was 95 and died at his residence due to age-related issues.
Lingappa is survived by two sons and three daughters.
His wife, Lakshmamma, predeceased him.
One of his sons, Nagaraj, was a national-level basketball player.
Lingappa was awarded the prestigious Dronacharya award in 2014 in recognition of his work as a coach.
During his illustrious coaching career spanning over six decades, Lingappa has trained athletes, including Nachappa, Rao, D Y Biradar, a former national marathon champion, Udaya Prabhu, Sathish Pillay and P C Ponnappa (400m silver medallist at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1970), among others.
He himself was a 10km walker in his prime and qualified for the event in the Manila Asian Games in 1954, though it was cancelled.
He had also served as an assistant coach of the India athletic squad.
Lingappa won a silver medal in 10 km walk in the first National Games held in Delhi in 1954.
He was a recipient of various state awards, including the Karnataka State Dasara award (1987), Rajyotsava award (1994), Karnataka Olympic Association award for outstanding coach (2002), and Kempegowda award in 2002.
Ashwini Nachappa, who trained under Lingappa during her early years, said his death was a loss to Indian athletics and praised his dedication.
"His death is a loss to Indian athletics. He was a wonderful coach, a complete taskmaster and instilled discipline in his trainees. I am fortunate to have trained under him and am thankful that he was part of my journey," the former Asian Games medalist told PTI.
Well-known Bengaluru-based coach V R Beedu, a close associate of Lingappa, said Indian sport had lost a legend.
"Indian sport has lost a legend. It is a loss to Indian athletics. He was a very dedicated coach and used to come to the Kanteerava stadium each day to train athletes.
"He was an inspiration to young coaches. Enthusiasm was a great trait of his. I learnt a lot from him," Beedu, a Dronacharya awardee who has also trained Nachappa, Reeth Abraham and Angel Mary among others, said.
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Body of Bihar Police personnel found hanging in barracks in Patna
Patna (PTI): The body of a Bihar Police personnel was found hanging from the ceiling of a room in his barracks here, a senior officer said on Sunday.
Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Kartikeya Sharma said a havildar with Bihar State Armed Police-1, popularly known as "Gorkha battalion", died allegedly by suicide as he had been suffering from some ailment.
The deceased left behind "two suicide notes", one in Hindi and the other in his native language Nepali.
"From the suicide notes, it appears that Navraj Sunar, the deceased havildar, had been suffering from some ailment which had caused him much mental anguish and may have driven him to take the extreme step," the SSP said.
The body was being sent to the native village of the deceased in Nepal after a post-mortem examination, while further investigations were on, with forensic experts inspecting the site of the incident.
