Dronacharya Awardee archery coach Dharmendra Tiwary suffers a stroke, in a critical condition

India's Dronacharya Awardee archery coach Dharmendra Tiwary, who has trained many champion players including the star couple of Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das, has suffered a stroke and is in a critical condition here.

The 49-year-old, who is associated with the Tata Archery Academy since its inception in 1996, underwent brain surgery on Thursday and is currently under observation. "Sir is still in a critical state, doctors are saying there is a two percent improvement and they are keeping a close watch. He had some eye movements today," a former India player told PTI here.

Tiwary, who coached India at the Rio Olympics, suffered the stroke on Wednesday morning and CT scans revealed multiple blood clots in his brain. "Doctors suggested surgery at the Tata Main Hospital here," he said.

Tiwary lives with his wife here. A former national-level archery player, Tiwary took up coaching after retiring from the sport in 1993 and since then he has produced many champion players from Jharkhand and is considered one of the most experienced coaches from India.

Tiwary, who started as a coach at the Jamshedpur Women's College, has been instrumental in the rise of Tata Archery Academy which has produced seven Olympians, 213 international medalists and 875 National-level players to date.

At TAA, Tiwary has been behind the rise of many top-level players like former world champion Dola Banerjee, Reena Kumari, Vardhineni Pranitha, Rahul Banerjee, Jayant Talukdar, and the current duo of Atanu and Deepika among others.

Upcoming Indian archer Komalika Bari, who is the reigning U-18 world champion, too has trained under Tiwary, who finally got his due last year after being bestowed with the prestigious Dronacharya Award.