‘Huge loss for the sporting world’: Russian boxing chief mourns passing of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov

General secretary of the Russian Boxing Federation, Umar Kremlev, has expressed his condolences over the tragic passing of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s father, Abdulmanap, describing it as a huge loss for the sports community.

“He will stay in our memories forever. It’s a huge loss for the sports world,” Kremlev wrote on his Instagram page.

The world-renowned mixed martial arts coach died in a Moscow hospital on Friday due to complications stemming from Covid-19 infection aged just 57.

Nurmagomedov senior had first fallen ill at the end of April in his homeland of Russia’s Republic of Dagestan, where he was treated in a local hospital for pneumonia-like symptoms.

After his condition worsened, Abdulmanap was sent by special flight to Moscow where he was treated in a military hospital where he tested positive for Covid-19.

He suffered a heart attack and stroke after being diagnosed with coronavirus, which required emergency bypass surgery, after which he was twice placed into a medically-induced coma.

Abdulmanap’s condition had been reported by doctors as 'serious but stable', but on Friday it became known that he sadly lost his battle with the disease.