Sporting icons are considered immortals by their fans due to the indelible mark they make in their sporting careers. 2022 has been a year of several success stories, but this was also a year when several legendary sporting icons passed away. The sports world will always miss them.


Sporting Icons Who Passed Away In 2022


Shane Warne: The Aussie leggie's death on March 4 shocked the cricket fraternity and fans. The 52-year-old was found unconscious in his Thailand resort. An autopsy later declared that he died of natural causes.


Andrew Symonds: Over two months after Warnie's death came the another shocker as another legendary cricketer from Down Under, Andrew Symonds, died on May 14. He was only 46. The former all-rounder was killed in a car crash.


Bill Russell: One of the greatest basketball players of all time played for Boston Celtics in the NBA during the civil unrest in the US. He won 11 championships in 13 seasons from 1957-69. He died on July 31, aged 88. As a civil rights activist, he had been a legend off the court also. Russell had marched with Martin Luther King jr, supported Muhammad Ali and had been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.   


Asad Rauf: The former ICC panel elite umpire from Pakistan died due to a cardiac arrest in Lahore on September 14. He had officiated 64 Tests, 139 one-dayers and 28 T20Is throughout his career, which met a controversial end after he was named in the IPL spot-fixing scandal in 2013. In 2016, BCCI banned Rauf for five years on misconduct and corruption charges. Before becoming an umpire, he also played 71 first-class matches as a middle-order batsman.


Nick Bollettieri: On December 4, Nick Bollettieri, one of the greatest tennis coaches passed away. He was 91. Bollettieri was considered the force behind players like Maria Sharapova, Andre Agassi and Monica Seles to become World No. 1. Also, according to the International Tennis Federation, six players whom Bollettieri coached have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.      


Rod Marsh: The Australian cricket great was known as "Iron Gloves", who started his career in 1970 has played 92 ODIs. The southpaw was the first Australian to score a Test century against Pakistan in 1982. A comatose Marsh passed away in an Adelaide hospital on March 4, at the age of 74.


Rudi Koertzen: The South African umpire died on August 9 in a car crash when he was returning home after playing golf. It was reported that Koertzen was travelling with three others when their car had a head-on collision near the town of Riverdale in Western Cape province. His style of declaring a batter out was popularly known as the "slow finger of death", where he would slowly raise his left arm with pointing finger at the batter.


Charanjit Singh: The captain of the Tokyo Olympics gold medal-winning hockey team in 1964, Charanjit Singh, passed away at the age of 90 on January 27, after suffering a heart attack. He was one of the most celebrated Indian sportspersons of his generation. Singh was also part of the silver medal-winning team in the 1960 Olympics.