Kottayam, April 30 Legendary shooting coach Sunny Thomas, who coached India's first individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bhindra, passed away at his home after suffering a cardiac arrest on Wednesday. He was 83.
On Wednesday while at home, Thomas felt uneasy and soon his wife took help from the neighbours, while on the way he breathed his last.
The last rites will be held on Thursday.
Even at his age, he continued to follow his sport closely, and just last month, he attended a meeting of the Kottayam Rifle Association. Thomas was an English professor, and it was only after his retirement that he fully committed to a sporting career in shooting. In 1993, he took over as the coach of the Indian shooting team and held the position until 2012.
Before taking up coaching, Thomas was also a former Indian national shooting champion in the rifle open sight event.
Under his guidance, India won 108 gold, 74 silver and 53 bronze medals from various tournaments, including the World Championships, Olympics and the Asian Games during his stint.
For his outstanding service to the sport, he was honoured with the Dronacharya Award in 2001.
Apart from Bhindra, he played a crucial role in Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore's silver medal win at the Olympics and has also mentored athletes like Vijay Kumar and Gagan Narang, both of whom won medals at the 2012 London Olympics."Incidentally, his two sons are also former state-level shooting champions.
Leader of Opposition V.D.Satheesan condoled the demise of veteran shooting star. "Thomas as a coach was able to help his wards win 29 medals in Asian Games and 95 medals at the Commonwealth Games. This speaks the volumes of how much devoted he was to the sport. His passing away is going to be a void in the sporting arena," said Satheesan.
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