It’s a disaster waiting to happen!
Mirror Sports Bureau
No ambulance, no doctor at Federation Cup athletics as injured junior pole-vaulter is left writhing in pain.
Shani Shaji, a junior polevaulter from Kerala, injured her ankle on the field during Day Two of the Federation Cup athletics at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here but there were not enough facilities at the venue to come to her aide immediately.
The incident raises questions about the level of security even at the national level competitions. “It’s an athletics event. Isn’t there a basic requirement to have one ambulance around?” a coach, who did not want to be named, said. “Forget ambulance, there wasn't even a doctor. All they did was keep an ice pack on the injured part and carry her to a private car. Only because the hospital was near to the stadium, she could get immediate help. This case was not that fatal but had anything grave happened, who would have come forward to take responsibility?"
In 2012, D Venkatesh, a footballer representing Bangalore Mars in the BDFA, collapsed on the ground and there was no service to take him to the hospital from the Bangalore Football Stadium. The striker was carried to the Hosmat hospital nearby on a stretcher. He did not survive.
In 2004 too, during a Federation Cup football game in the city, Cristiano Junior had an on-field collision with goalkeeper Subrata Pal. A delay in the arrival of an ambulance cost him his life.
Shani’s case is a remainder of how poor infrastructure plagues Indian sport. Fortunately for the Kerala girl, her injury wasn’t critical.
No ambulance, no doctor at Federation Cup athletics as injured junior pole-vaulter is left writhing in pain.
Shani Shaji, a junior polevaulter from Kerala, injured her ankle on the field during Day Two of the Federation Cup athletics at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here but there were not enough facilities at the venue to come to her aide immediately.
There was no ambulance at the ground. There was no doctor around either. As Shani writhed in pain for several minutes, the organisers picked her up, put her in a car and rushed her to the nearby Mallya Hospital. The doctors checked her and discharged her in an hour but the incident has exposed inadequacies at the ground.
The incident raises questions about the level of security even at the national level competitions. “It’s an athletics event. Isn’t there a basic requirement to have one ambulance around?” a coach, who did not want to be named, said. “Forget ambulance, there wasn't even a doctor. All they did was keep an ice pack on the injured part and carry her to a private car. Only because the hospital was near to the stadium, she could get immediate help. This case was not that fatal but had anything grave happened, who would have come forward to take responsibility?"
In 2012, D Venkatesh, a footballer representing Bangalore Mars in the BDFA, collapsed on the ground and there was no service to take him to the hospital from the Bangalore Football Stadium. The striker was carried to the Hosmat hospital nearby on a stretcher. He did not survive.
In 2004 too, during a Federation Cup football game in the city, Cristiano Junior had an on-field collision with goalkeeper Subrata Pal. A delay in the arrival of an ambulance cost him his life.
Shani’s case is a remainder of how poor infrastructure plagues Indian sport. Fortunately for the Kerala girl, her injury wasn’t critical.
