Hyderabad, October 24
Indian archery coach Lenin Cherukuri was killed and two Delhi Commonwealth Games silver medallists were injured in a road accident near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh early this morning.

International archer-turned-coach Lenin, Ritul Chatterjee and Chittibomma Jignesh were returning to Vijayawada after attending a felicitation function in Hyderabad when the SUV they were travelling in toppled after hitting a road divider. The accident took place when Lenin, who was driving the Scorpio, tried to avoid a collision with a vehicle coming from the opposite direction and in the process hit the divider. Lenin, 25, died on the spot while Ritul and Jignesh suffered minor injuries. They were shifted to a hospital in Vijayawada.

The accident took place at Ibrahimpatnam, near Vijayawada, about 300 km from here. “The accident happened at 2 am. on NH-5. We were coming back from the ceremony organised by Chief Minister K Rosaiah. My son Lenin was driving and we were almost home when our car collided with an autorickshaw coming from the opposite side. The auto driver violated the rules and was driving in wrong lane,” Cherukuri Satyanarayana, Lenin’s father and organising secretary of Andhra Pradesh Archery Association, said.

Lenin, who had represented India in compound archery, was one of the coaches of the CWG medal winning men’s and women’s team. — IANS