New Delhi, 15 June

Veteran sports journalist Harpal Singh Bedi, who covered several highs and lows of Indian sports in a career spanning over four decades, served as the national Olympic contingent's press attache in 2012 and charmed the media box with his inimitable wit and warmth, died after prolonged illness here on Saturday. He was 72 and is survived by his wife Revathi and daughter Pallavi.

The former sports editor of the United News of India (UNI) was among the tallest figures in Indian sports journalism and was working as a consulting editor of the Statesman newspaper for the last couple of years.

His awe-inspiring work experience included on-ground coverage of eight Olympic Games, "hard to count" Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games, World Cups of cricket and hockey, and world and national championships of athletics and other major Olympic sports.

Not to be forgotten was his ability to be a mentor to young journalists in the press box. He could make nervous newbies comfortable with his trademark humour. "Harpal Singh Bedi was a quintessential newsman, loved and respected...," said veteran journalist and sports administrator G Rajaraman as he paid tributes to his former colleague.

"His finger was on the pulse of Indian sport and sports administration," Rajaraman, who will be India's press attache at the upcoming Paris Olympics, told PTI. A close friend of Bishan Singh Bedi, he was also often mistaken for the late Indian spin great. "We are close friends you know, I am BSB, he is HSB. We go back a long way," the former India captain, who passed away in 2023 after battling multiple health problems, had told this correspondent once.

An alumnus of the prestigious Jawahar Lal Nehru University, where he did his Masters and MPhil from the School of International Studies, Bedi was considered a father figure in sports journalism by his colleagues. "A particularly sad day for first generation JNUites. Harpal Singh Bedi, the legend of our times, passed away this morning. My condolences to his family. Om Shanti," Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar posted on X with a group picture featuring him and Bedi from their time at the university.

Bedi was witness to the change and growth in the country's sporting landscape from the time P T Usha attained worldwide fame with her fourth place finish in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics to the epoch-making gold medal that rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra won in the 2008 Beijing Games.

His fame transcended borders and he became a popular figure with Pakistani journalists when he toured the country with the Indian cricket teams in 2004 and 2005. He quite literally became a story for the local journalists for his jovial personality.