Professor, Dronacharya & friend — Sunny Thomas laid to rest

Professor in the English department for over three decades, chief coach of the Indian shooting team for almost two decades, Sunny Thomas is no more. Popularly known as the professor or ‘Sunny sir’ — mentor and friend to all the early superstars, including Abhinav Bindra, Jaspal Rana and Ronjan Sodhi — was laid to rest at Thevakkal in Ernakulam, Kerala.

He passed away at his home in Uzhavoor in Kottayam on Wednesday at the age of 83. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

Professor, who was honoured with the Dronacharya award in 2001, played a big role in bringing the sport into the mainstream. His knowledge and willingness to work – he would help in tallying the scores when competitions were held on paper targets, countless visits to Shastri Bhawan to nudge ministry officials into releasing ammunition and clay targets — was what made him special for one and all.

“He was my first teacher. He taught me how to score when we would hold championships with paper targets,” the long-time assistant secretary of National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) Rajeev Bhatia said.

The former national champion started shooting at the Kottayam Rifle Club and perhaps that is why he would always side with the shooters when they needed help in getting around the constant shortage in ammunition.

“If you remember in the early days, the media would often write stories about how shooters were struggling to get ammunition and in our case the clay targets during national camps,” Sodhi said. “And professor was the one who would routinely go to the officials, fighting for all of us. More than the technical aspects, he was a mentor to all of us. Sunny sir was different from today’s coaches, who are only interested in their respective disciplines. He would know the shotgun shooters and would follow our performances,” he added.

Besides being a mentor, he was a vital cog in NRAI office, for dealing with issues arising out of ministry decisions. Any issues that threatened to disrupt training, delay in issuance of paperwork of the team, the professor was sent to the officials. “We would call him our Hanuman. We would especially send him to the ministry offices to sort out all the issues,” Bhatia said, talking about the multitude of tasks that he would perform for both the federation and the shooters.

Jaspal Rana, the former pistol ace and a coach now, said Sunny was a friend and a coach who would not disturb the training methodology or impose his style on the shooters.

“The best thing about him was how he would never try to change the technique of shooters. He was balanced in his understanding. He would only give advice, if his opinion was sought. He was never critical of our performances, rather became an understanding friend, one who would know how hard it was for us then to perform and win medals. He will be missed,” Rana said.

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