Bhopal: Four hockey players were on Monday killed and three others injured when their car overturned after hitting a tree at Raisalpur in Madhya Pradesh’s Hosangabad district.
The mishap took place when they were heading to play a semifinal match of Major Dhyan Chand Memorial All India Hockey Tournament at district headquarters of Hosangabad. They were returning from the nearby town of Itarsi after celebrating birthday of one of their teammates, who was also killed in the incident, the police said.
The driver lost control over the wheels while trying to avoid a head-on-collision with a car coming from opposite direction due to which the four-wheeler hit a roadside tree, Dehat police station in-charge Ashish Pawar said.
The deceased, all in the age group of 18 to 22, were identified as Shahnwaz Hussain, Adarsh Hardua, Ashis Lal and Aniket Varun.
While Ashish and Aniket were selected in the Indian junior hockey team, the other two deceased were called for selection in the team.
The three injured players were identified as Sahil Choure, Akshyaya Awasthi and Shan Gladwin.
Both the deceased and the injured were enroll-ed in Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy and were representing the academy in the tournament.
All of them hailed from Madhya Pradesh.
Ashish’s two sisters are also national hockey players and his mother is a sports teacher at a private school in Jabalpur.
Chief minister Kamal Nath expressed shock and grief over the tragic death of the three hockey players in the accident.
“I have directed the officials concerned to extend help to families of the deceased and ensure proper medical treatment of the injured,” he said.
Mr Nath’s media coordinator Narendra Saluja said the CM had declared financial assistance of '2 lakh each to the family members of the deceased from his discretionary fund.
Besides, these families will also get '5 lakh as the players were insured by the state’s sports department, Mr Saluja said.
Niraj Rai Bahotra of Dhyan Chand Hockey Academy, which organised the tournament, said they had cancelled the event due to the tragedy.
