SHILLONG, April 19: Deenadayalan Vishwa, the table tennis prodigy passed away tragically in a car accident a day before the commencement of the 83rd Senior National Table Tennis Championship, was laid to rest in Chennai today.
Young Vishwa’s coach Ramesh Babu of the Tamizagha Table Tennis Association (TTTA), one of two associations in Tamil Nadu, described the 18-year-old as the ‘future Sharath Kamal’ for his many titles earned in the country and abroad during his short career in the sport.
Vishwa and the driver of the tourist taxi he was travelling in, Dipal Das, were the two victims who lost their lives after a collision with a truck near Shangbangla in Ri-Bhoi District. Three of Vishwa’s team mates – R Santosh Kumar, D Kishore Kumar, S Abhinash Prasannaji – suffered injuries but have been discharged from NEIGRIHMS and returned home on Tuesday.
Babu thanked the Meghalaya Table Tennis Association, Ri-Bhoi police and district administration for their help in completing the formalities, which enabled Vishwa’s body to be returned to Chennai the day after the mishap.
The Tamil Nadu-based coach thanked several MTTA members for their assistance as they spent the whole of that unfortunate night in Nongpoh along with the team.
Providing details about the accident that took place on Sunday afternoon, Babu said that the 12-member TTTA team was travelling on their way to Shillong in three separate taxis.
He said that Das was blameless as it was the truck that was driving on the wrong side of the road.
