Chennai, Veteran Indian sports journalist S Thyagarajan, who carved a niche for himself with his extensive coverage of hockey, died here on Monday after battling age-related ailments. He was 85. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. His cremation took place in Chennai on Monday. Thyagarajan, who covered six Olympics and nine Asian Games, served ‘The Hindu’ newspaper from 1962 to 2013 before his retirement. He started his career with ‘The Indian Express’ in 1961. “S. Thyagarajan, veteran sports correspondent and doyen of hockey writing, who worked with The Hindu for many decades, passed away,” ‘the Hindu’s sports editor K C Vijaya Kumar posted on ‘X’. Thyagarajan also served on the media and communications-related committees of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) during his journalistic career. He was a former president of both the Sports Journalist Federation of India and the Tamil Nadu Sports Journalists Association. Former India captain-cum-coach and 1980 Olympic gold medallist Vasudevan Baskaran was heartbroken as Tyagarajan, commonly known as “Thyagu” covered his entire career and supported him throughout. “When I started hockey in 1969 he was covering the sport and used to cover collegiate hockey for the Hindu. That’s basically how he came into prominence. His dedication, love and knowledge of the sport was impeccable,” Baskaran told PTI. “It’s a very sad for Indian sports as he was a great athletics correspondent as well besides hockey. His contribution to Indian hockey was immense,” he added. Senior journalist and hockey historian K Arumugam was at loss of words for Thayagarajan’s demise. “I knew him for more than 30 years. He was rare, an all-rounder journalist. He was master of all aspects not just hockey. He was a story teller,” Arumugam said. “He was globally very well respected, his knowledge was very well recognised,” he said. Senior Indian sports journalist S Sabanayakan, a former president of the Sports Journalist Federation of India (SJFI) who has worked with prominent newspapers like The Hindu and The Telegraph, termed Thyagarajan’s death as an “irreparable loss” for the fraternity. “The passing of S Thyagarajan is an irreparable loss to sports journalism. An expert in field hockey, Thyagu as he is well known, groomed a lot of youngsters in the profession. A fluent writer, his writing style was racy and unique,” he said. “He was the president of Sports Journalists’ Federation of India for one term of two years in 1996. He also headed the Tamil Nadu Sports Journalists’ Association for many years. He was also the Chairman of the Field Hockey Commission of AIPS from 1998 to 2006. “He covered 6 Olympics, nine Asian Games, nine hockey World Cups and 20 hockey nationals in his illustrious career. In October 2024, he was felicitated by SJFI for his contribution to sports journalism,” he added The Sports Journalists Federation of India condoled the demise of Thyagarajan. President Saraju Chakraborty said the passing away of the doyen of sports journalism was an irreparable loss to the fraternity.