A wrong turn cuts short promising careers

Deepankar Sharda 

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 19

Major Singh, Rajan, Surinder, Aman Chauhan, Sahil Sharma and Brijesh were childhood buddies and well known in the handball circles of the city.

While Major, the senior most in the group, along with Brijesh played as a centre, Rajan was considered one of the best goalkeepers.      

Aman used to play as a left winger, while Surinder held the right wing. Sahil played as pivot player. They all were excellent with their skills, but an accident on Tuesday night cut short their careers.

While Rajan and Surinder died on the spot, Brijesh is battling for his life in a city hospital. 

Sahil and Major have also received critical injuries. Aman, who was driving the car, is said to be out of danger, but has sustained multiple injuries in the accident. 

They all had assembled to celebrate Major’s birthday and were together when their car rammed into a roadside tree near the Sector 7-27 light point late last night.

All of them had won gold medals in the School National Games and were also among the top-three in inter-university championships.

They were together since Class VI and had been recruited as a batch of sub-junior players in DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 8. Later, they played for DAV College and also represented SGGS College, Sector 26.

“They were excellent players. The incident has come as a great shock…it is a huge loss for the local handball fraternity. They were regular trainees at DAV School coaching centre and were well-mannered. They all were much disciplined on the court. I don’t know what took them to drive the car so fast,” said their childhood coach Ravinder Singh.  

Aman, who was a probable for the U-17 team, along with Sahil had to appear for admission trials, under BPEd stream, at Panjab University on Wednesday. 

Brijesh was scheduled to report to the DAV School coaching centre, while Rajan and Surinder were looking forward to get a job along with Major Singh.

“Major and Brijesh are among the best centre players, while Rajan was known to be the best goalkeeper. There were plans to celebrate Major’s birthday at the centre, but the news on Wednesday morning came as a shock to all of us. The city has lost one of their best players,” said Kumar Vasishth, who used to play alongside the group.

Another teammate, Manavpreet Singh Bawa said the players were together since last seven years and were excellent as a team. 

“They all were winners of the inter-school and inter-university handball championship. Everyone had great respect for them, but one move has changed their life and left us numb. We are still in shock and wish a speedy recovery to the survivors,” said Bawa. 

The local players also paid their homage to the victims by observing a minute’s silence at the handball coaching centres of the city.