P.T. Usha's coach and mentor O.M. Nambiar dies

Nambiar served the Indian Air Force for 15 years and retired in 1970 as a sergeant

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ITDC NEWS R Renowned athletics coach O.M. Nambiar, who nurtured one of India's greatest track and field stars P.T. Usha, died in Kozhikode on Thursday due to age-related illness. He was 89.

Nambiar is survived by his wife Leela, three sons and a daughter. He breathed his last at his residence in Vadakara, a coastal own in Kozhikode district.

One of the first Dronacharya Award winners and this year's Padma Shri awardee was hospitalised around a week ago, after which he was brought back home.

Usha said Nambiar, who was battling the Parkinson's disease, had a heart attack 10 days ago.

She termed it a huge personal loss.

"It's a huge loss for me. He was a father figure to me and my achievements would not have been there if he was not there. I met him only last week after Neeraj (Chopra) won gold in Olympics. He could understand what I was telling him but he could not speak," Usha told PTI.

A former Air Force man, Nambiar has turned several young talent into international athletes during his tenure as a renowned coach, including the legendary Usha, who missed a bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics by one-hundredth of a second.