BHOPAL: Four promising young hockey players enrolled with the Madhya Pradesh State Hockey Academy were killed and three other players hurt critically in a road mishap near Raisalpur village in Hoshangabad district on Monday morning.
The accident reportedly happened when the car boarded by the seven young players (aged between 17 and 20 years) rammed into a tree while trying to avoid collision with a wayward jeep at around 7 am. While four players died, three others have been hospitalised, where one of them is stated critical.
All seven players were on way to play the semi final match of the ongoing Dhyan Chand Trophy open tournament in Hoshangabad town.
Shockingly one of the deceased Adarsh Hardua had celebrated his birthday with family in adjoining Itarsi town on Sunday and the other six players too had gone for the birthday celebrations following their coach's permission.
All the players were returning to neighboring Hoshangabad town in the morning to play the tournament's last four clash, when the killer mishap happened.
The deceased players have been identified as Shahnawaz Khan who hailed from Indore, Adarsh Hardua (Itarsi-Hoshangabad), Ashish Lal (Jabalpur) and Aniket Varun (Gwalior). Among the three other players who are critical, Akshay Awasthi (Gwalior) who was twice Junior India, is stated to be on ventilator support.
Each of the four bereaved families will get Rs 5 lakh (which represents compensation from the insurance cover given to each Academy player by Sports department) and an additional Rs 2 lakh from CM's fund. "Also, the state government will bear entire cost of medical treatment of the three injured players, sports minister Jeetu Patwari and Director (Sports) SL Thaosen said.