For more than 26 years, he has groomed Indian boxing's youth crop with stupendous results but G Manoharan remained in oblivion even as the system rewarded his contemporaries and juniors annually.
Manoharan, currently the head coach of the Indian youth team, has mentored various age groups since 1987.
To his credit, the Sports Authority of India coach has trained the likes of Asian Championships gold-medallist Shiva Thapa and World Championships bronze-medallist Vikas Krishan in their time at the youth level.
Last year, Shiva, who won a Youth Olympics silver medal under Manoharan in 2010, became the youngest Indian to qualify for the summer Olympics.
Also among his former wards is Sumit Sangwan, a gold-medallist at last year's Asian Olympic qualifiers. Under Manoharan, Sumit had bagged a silver medal at the Asian Youth Championships in 2010.
Before that, under his tutelage, Thokchom Nanao Singh won India's lone gold medal at the inaugural Youth World Championships in 2008.
But when it comes to annual National Sports Awards, where his name has been backed by the Indian Boxing Federation for the past six years, Manoharan has somehow always drawn a blank.
"I have been applying for six years, even the federation and my students have backed me with their endorsements but somehow I have always missed out. It's hard to understand but I have come to accept it now," Manoharan told PTI after being ignored yet again.
"I have seen both my contemporaries and juniors being awarded the Dronacharya ahead of me. Obviously I do question where I stand but then I can't stop working either. My association with boxing goes back a long way," he said.
