Kolhapur wrestler Nilesh Kandurkar dies after breaking his neck in bout

Mangalore Today News Network

Kolhapur, Apr 06, 2018 : An emerging talented wrestler, Nilesh Kandurkar, 20, from Kolhapur lost his battle for life on Friday morning. Nilesh was critical after his neck broke during a bout in Kolhapur on Monday. He was under treatment at the Krishna Hospital, Karad.

 

 

The youngster was battling for his life for the past four days and under the guidance of neurology surgeon Dr Prasanna Patankar, a team of doctors were trying their best to cure him. He was kept on ventilator and breathed his last without any improvement on Friday.

What happened

On the occasion of Jyotiba Jatra, a mud wrestling tournament was organised in Bandiwade village. Nilesh took part in the tournament and in the first bout, faced a stronger opponent. The match went on in a stalemate position and Nilesh’s opponent was trying to score while Nilesh was passive and was holding his stance. In a desperate attempt to win, Nilesh’s opponent grabbed him by the waist and lifted him in the air for the ‘Ekchak’ move (throwing the opponent who is on a defensive stance over you in the opposite direction). Nilesh was trying to free himself from the grip and during the heat of the moment, landed on his neck in full force. The impact was so powerful that he became unconscious almost instantaneously.

While his opponent was celebrating and the crowd was cheering for him, officials noticed that Nilesh was not moving and rushed towards him. Nilesh had suffered neck and spinal cord damage due to the massive blow. Sensing the gravity of his injury, an ambulance was immediately called and he was admitted to Metro Hospital in Kolhapur. His injury was quite severe and the doctors advised Nilesh’s family members to shift to Mumbai’s KEM Hospital for advanced treatment.


Chandrakant Patil, the guardian minister of Kolhapur, came ahead and arranged a vehicle for Nilesh to move to Mumbai. However, the medical team accompanying him in the ambulance noticed that his heath was deteriorating rapidly and without taking any risk, admitted him to Krisha Hospital in Karad.

The organisers refused to reveal the name of the opponent as they said that it was a case of accident and because the opponent was in a state of shock.

Wrestling background

Nilesh hails from a family of wrestlers. His father Vitthal Kandurkar and brother Suhas were famous wrestlers but due to financial constraints, had left the field and were working on daily wages in Kolhapur. The family had high hopes from Nilesh as he had shown a spark at a young age.

“He had enormous talent and had earned fame through local tournaments. He would finish any bout in hardly four ti five minutes and a huge crowd would gather to watch him in action. However, he wasn’t satisfied with this and was training at Tatyasaheb Kore Wrestling Complex in Warnangar for mat wrestling. He would have surely impressed everyone at the state and national level. His tragic accident have shattered all our dreams,” said his brother Suhas.

Planning to get every wrestler insured, says Balasaheb Landge

While the wrestling fraternity ismourning the demise of the budding wrestler, Maharashtra State Wrestling Association (MSWA) is giving a serious thought to get every wrestler in the state under an insurance cover.

“We were already thinking about such an insurance plan for wrestlers. Our aim is to get every registered wrestler, right from cadet category to seniors, under the insurance cover. Most of the wrestlers are from humble backgrounds and can’t afford the expenses of treatment in case of injury and rehabilitation. The proposal will be discussed in the next meeting of the association and we will update the media about the decisions then,” said Balasaheb Landge, MSWA secretary.

courtesy:HT