FIR against organisers after kickboxer dies during bout

Police are hunting for the organisers of a kickboxing championship following the death of a young kickboxer who was punched in the face by an opponent during a bout.

Nikhil S, 23, a martial arts practitioner from Mysuru, collapsed and passed out after being knocked down by his opponent in western Bengaluru around 6 pm on July 10.

He was first taken to a hospital in Nagarabhavi and put on a ventilator in the ICU. He was later transferred to a hospital in Yeshwantpur where he died around 12.30 am on July 13.

Nikhil had studied ITI and was working as an electrician. He had been practising martial arts for the last two years.

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Early on July 9, he and some others from the Academy of Martial Science, Mysuru, left for Bengaluru to take part in the state-level kickboxing championship organised by the K1 Kickboxing Association Karnataka.

The championship began that day at Rapid Fitness, a gym located on the fifth floor of a commercial building in RR Layout in Jnanajyothi Nagar near Kengeri.

The next day, soon after Nikhil collapsed in the ring, the organisers called up his mother and broke the news.

When his father Suresh P, 62, and head coach Vikram reached the hospital in Bengaluru, doctors told him about the nature of the injuries.

According to Suresh, his son went into coma soon after sustaining the injury. K1 Indian head coach Navin Ravishankar would not tell him anything except that Nikhil had suffered a head injury after collapsing in the ring during the bout.

'Sheer negligence'

In his police complaint, Suresh suggested that his son died because of sheer negligence on the part of the organisers.

According to Suresh, to begin with, the organisers had erred in organising the contest on the fifth floor. It was going to be a challenge to rush people to the hospital in case of an emergency, he said.

Second, there were no safety measures at the venue. The sponge mat on the floor of the ring was so thin that it offered no protection against head injury, he added.

Further, no ambulance was kept on standby; there was no paramedical assistance or oxygen. As a result, no first aid could be provided to Nikhil in the ring. And Nikhil was taken to the hospital in a private SUV, said Suresh, who is a karate teacher.

"I have experience teaching karate. I can certainly say that my son was killed by the organisers," he told reporters on Thursday.

Based on Suresh's complaint, Jnanabarathi police have registered a case of causing death by negligence against Ravishankar and the K1 Kickboxing Association, and are making efforts to trace them.

Laxman B Nimbargi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), said: "A case has been registered against the organisers. We will investigate whether they had permission to conduct the event and whether requisite safety measures were taken during the event. Any further necessary action will be taken accordingly."