Four national powerlifters dead in highway accident; World Champion Saksham Yadav severely injured

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What’s the Story?

Four national-level power-lifters have died after being involved in a road accident near the Delhi-Haryana border, while two others were seriously injured. Among the injured is Saksham Yadav, who bagged the gold medal for India at the World Weightlifting Championships in 2017.

In Case You Didn’t Know

Powerlifting differs from weightlifting in a few ways. While weightlifting uses overhead movements snatch, clean and jerk, powerlifting uses motions like squat, bench press and deadlift none of which involve lifting the weights overhead.

The Heart of the Matter

The victims were in a Swift DZire and were driving along the Delhi-Panipat National Highway when the accident occurred at about 4 am in the vicinity of Alipur village, which lies close to the Singhu border that divides Delhi and Haryana. The group had been celebrating one of their members’ birthday when the incident took place.

Poor visibility conditions in the NCR region have hampered road safety over the past few days as dense fog has consistently been settling around the region from early evening until sunrise.

Police officials suspect that despite the foggy conditions, the driver had been speeding and couldn’t notice and avoid the divider. The car followed through and then hit an electric pole. The impact of the contact was severe enough to wrench the roof of the car entirely off. The possibility of drunken driving has also not been ruled out.

What’s Next

The four lifters – Tikamchand, Saurabh, Yogesh and Harish Roy – were rushed to the Raja Harishchandra Hospital, but were declared ‘dead on arrival’. The other occupants of the automobile – Saksham and Rohit – were subsequently referred to Max Hospital’s Shalimar Bagh branch in Delhi from where they were further sent to AIIMS as they continue to receive treatment.

Author’s Take

With the fog and smog conditions severely clouding visibility, one must ensure their own safety and that of other’s around them on the roads by adhering to speed limits or even going below them to stay safe.

Edited by Soumo Ghosh