Shillong, Apr 19: Deenadayalan Vishwa, the table tennis prodigy whose life was sadly cut short in a car accident the day before the start of the 83rd Senior National Table Tennis Championship, was buried in Chennai today.
Speaking today in Shillong, on the second day of the championship, coach Ramesh Babu of the Tamizagha Table Tennis Association (TTTA), one of the two associations from Tamil Nadu, described the highly talented Vishwa as a “future Sharath Kamal”, referring to the top Indian paddler, as he had won many titles in the country and abroad in his short career in the junior and sub-junior categories.
Vishwa and the driver of the tourist taxi he was travelling in, Dipal Das, were the only fatalities in the accident, which resulted from a collision with a truck near Shangbangla, Ri-Bhoi. Three of Vishwa’s team mates – R Santosh Kumar, D Kishore Kumar, S Abhinash Prasannaji – were injured but were discharged from NEIGRIHMS and returned home today.
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 next day.
Babu singled out MTTA members Joydeep Das and Vikram Aditya for their help and in spending the whole of that terrible night in Nongpoh with the team.
Giving a few more details about the accident, which took place on Sunday afternoon, Babu informed that the 12-member TTTA team were travelling 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.
The rest of the TTTA team continues to bravely play on in Shillong despite being greatly affected by the loss of the popular Vishwa.
(File photo)
