National Games: 19-Year-Old Netball Player Dies After Drowning
Mayurish Pawar, a 19-year-old netball player from Maharashtra drowned during the course of the National Games currently being held in Kerala.
Tragedy struck the ongoing National Games as a 19-year-old netball player from Maharashtra died here Monday after drowning. Thiruvanathapuram District Collector Biju Prabhakar said the team had been warned of rough waves approaching the beach.
Earlier reports indicated Mayurish Pawar had collapsed after training due to a massive cardiac arrest and was declared dead by doctors at a nearby private hospital on Monday, according to National Games Secretariat officials in Tiruvananthapuram. But the District Collector later said Pawar's heart was in perfect condition
The dead body would be handed over to the team and family members after a post-mortem, he added.
The doom and gloom does not end there. Kerala is hosting the National Games after 27 years but local fans will not see India's biggest sporting stars in action. The likes of Saina Nehwal, Vijender Singh, Jwala Gutta, Sardar Singh are missing in action. While the badminton players decided not to participate, the cream of India's hockey talent is busy with the Hockey India League.
The boxers meanwhile, have been caught in a bureaucratic hurdle between the Indian Olympic Association and Boxing India. After the IOA refused to accept Boxing India, the body pulled the boxers out of the Games. "The public may be disappointed but my job is to only make the arrangements, encourage people's participation, to associate pride with the Games," said Jacob Punnoose, president of the National Games Organising Committee.
(With inputs from Sneha Mary Koshy )