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BENGALURU: Noted athletics coach Purushotham Rai, who was to receive the Dronacharya award for lifetime contribution in a virtual ceremony on Saturday, passed away here on Friday night following a massive heart attack, family sources said.
“He is no more with me. This evening, he showed some signs of a heart attack and we took him to the hospital. At the hospital, they made him lie down and soon after he was gone,” Annie Rai, the coach’s wife told TOI, struggling to complete her sentence.
“He passed away around 8.30 pm,” she added.
The 80-year-old Rai, along with former India hockey skipper Jude Felix (Dronacharya award) and former shuttler Trupti Murgunde (Dhyan Chand award) were to be honoured at the ceremony at Vikasa Soudha here.
Rai, who had three of his wards — Rosa Kutty, MK Asha and Pramila Aiyappa — competing for India at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was happy to receive the honour without the recommendation of the Athletics Federation.
“I was lucky to apply in June after the government extended the deadline. I applied myself with recommendation letters from Arjuna award winner Rosa Kutty, women’s 800m silver medallist at the 1998 Asiad and Dronacharya award winning coach VR Beedu.
“I’m glad to accept the honour and dedicate it to all my trainees who believed in me. But yes, it’s come too late but then I didn’t have any godfathers,” Rai told TOI last week, dedicating the award to all his trainees, after receiving the news about his selection by the awards committee.
The veteran coach, who passed out of NIS Patiala in 1974 and was active till 2015, said he had applied for the prestigious award last year too. “I applied last year too, but I don’t think it reached them,” he said.
Rai’s long list of trainees include Rosa, Pramila Aiyappa, Ashwini Nachappa, MK Asha and EB Shyla. Among the men his top trainees included SD Eashan and Babu Shetty.
Veteran coach VR Beedu and Robert Bobby George, both Dronacharya award winners, were shocked to hear about Rai’s death. “He was one of the most deserving candidates having produced so many athletes,” George said
A shocked Beedu said: “Tomorrow he would have won it but he left the day before.”
“He is no more with me. This evening, he showed some signs of a heart attack and we took him to the hospital. At the hospital, they made him lie down and soon after he was gone,” Annie Rai, the coach’s wife told TOI, struggling to complete her sentence.
“He passed away around 8.30 pm,” she added.
The 80-year-old Rai, along with former India hockey skipper Jude Felix (Dronacharya award) and former shuttler Trupti Murgunde (Dhyan Chand award) were to be honoured at the ceremony at Vikasa Soudha here.
Rai, who had three of his wards — Rosa Kutty, MK Asha and Pramila Aiyappa — competing for India at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was happy to receive the honour without the recommendation of the Athletics Federation.
“I was lucky to apply in June after the government extended the deadline. I applied myself with recommendation letters from Arjuna award winner Rosa Kutty, women’s 800m silver medallist at the 1998 Asiad and Dronacharya award winning coach VR Beedu.
“I’m glad to accept the honour and dedicate it to all my trainees who believed in me. But yes, it’s come too late but then I didn’t have any godfathers,” Rai told TOI last week, dedicating the award to all his trainees, after receiving the news about his selection by the awards committee.
The veteran coach, who passed out of NIS Patiala in 1974 and was active till 2015, said he had applied for the prestigious award last year too. “I applied last year too, but I don’t think it reached them,” he said.
Rai’s long list of trainees include Rosa, Pramila Aiyappa, Ashwini Nachappa, MK Asha and EB Shyla. Among the men his top trainees included SD Eashan and Babu Shetty.
Veteran coach VR Beedu and Robert Bobby George, both Dronacharya award winners, were shocked to hear about Rai’s death. “He was one of the most deserving candidates having produced so many athletes,” George said
A shocked Beedu said: “Tomorrow he would have won it but he left the day before.”
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