In a heartbreaking turn of events, Vishwa Deenadayalan, an 18-year-old table tennis player from Tamil Nadu, on his way to Shillong from Guwahati, died in a road accident.
The 18-year-old, along with three other teammates, traveled by taxi from Guwahati to Shillong for the 83rd Senior National and Inter-State Table Tennis Championships, which start tomorrow in Shillong, a statement from the Table Tennis Federation of India said.
“A 12-wheeled trailer, coming from the opposite direction, plowed through the road divide and hit the taxi at Shangbangla, just after the Umliy checkpoint, and plunged into the canyon. The taxi driver died on the spot and Vishwa before reaching Nongpoh Civil Hospital. The doctors declared him dead. Ramesh Santosh Kumar, Abinash Prasannaji Srinivasan and Kishore Kumar, who were traveling with Vishwa, suffered serious injuries,” the statement said.
“The championship organizers, with the help of the Meghalaya government, rushed them to the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) in Shillong for critical care. The team of doctors who cared for them said the boys were stable,” the statement added.
Vishwa Deenadayalan, a promising player with several national ranking titles and international medals to his name, was set to represent India at the WTT Youth Contender in Linz, Austria from April 27. A product of Krishnaswamy TT Club in Anna Nagar, Vishwa was trained by Ramnath Prasad and Jai Prabhu Ram had come in for praise from none other than Sharath Kamal. The top paddler judged him to be a very talented boy with a lot of promise.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma expressed his condolences on Twitter on the death of Vishwa Deenadayalan.
Vishwa Deenadayalan’s father and relatives will arrive in Guwahati tonight and Vishwa’s embalmed body will be flown to Chennai in the morning. Two members of the MTTA are stationed in Nongpoh to ensure all formalities are completed.
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