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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Meghwal, Shah move to introduce bills in LS to tweak women's quota law, set up delimitation panel
New Delhi (PTI): Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Amit Shah on Thursday moved to introduce three bills in the Lok Sabha to amend the women's quota law and set up a delimitation commission amid protests by the opposition, which termed the proposed legislations anti-constitutional.
Congress' K C Venugopal questioned why proposed changes in the women's quota law were not incorporated when it was earlier passed by Parliament.
"Bills to tweak the women's quota law and set up a delimitation panel are anti-constitutional," he said.
Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav questioned the rush to introduce the bills.
"We are in favour... but why do you not want a Census to be done?" he asked.
Union Minister Home Minister Amit Shah hit back, saying the Census 2027 is on and the Centre has also decided to go for caste enumeration, but reservation based on religion is "unconstitutional".
According to the draft Constitution amendment bill, Lok Sabha seats will be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats will also be increased in state and Union territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
The seats reserved for women in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies "shall be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a state or Union territory", the draft bill circulated among Lok Sabha members said.
Several opposition parties on Wednesday decided to unitedly vote against the delimitation provisions in the Constitution amendment bill in Parliament, while asserting that they are not against reservation for women in legislative bodies.
