Khelo India Games hit by injuries to two athletes

The third edition of the Khelo India Youth Games, which kicked off here on Friday, was marred by another injury to a teen athlete.

On Thursday, Shivangini Gohain (12), an archer from Assam, had to be airlifted to Delhi and admitted to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after an arrow accidentally pierced through her shoulder during a practice session on Wednesday.

It has now surfaced that on the same day, a 14-year-old gymnast from Bengal, Adita Mandal, suffered neck and spinal injuries during a practice session, leading to her pulling out from the event.

Adita, however, was discharged from the hospital after MRI reports revealed the injuries were not serious in nature.

In the earlier incident, Gohain was training unsupervised and the mishap was a result of negligence by the local coach and officials, the state’s archery association said.

Dr Deepak Gupta, professor of neurosurgery at AIIMS said the arrow was stuck in the cervical spine vertebrae in close relation to spinal cord and major vessels.

The arrow was touching the vertebral artery which supplies blood to the brain stem. About 15 cm of the arrow was removed during the four-hour surgery.

“Around 0.5 cm of the arrow was in front of the spinal cord. The arrow had penetrated through neck, grazed the vertebral artery on right side, went through vertebral body and intervertebral disc to the opposite side up to the left lung,” Dr Gupta explained. Doctors said she was now stable after the surgery.