Bhubaneswar: Former Orissa senior football team captain Kedar Nath Singh of Sundargarh breathed his last at a city hospital here Monday. He was 24.
Kedar received a grievous injury while playing a domestic game Saturday at Sarankul, Nayagarh. He was admitted to a hospital there, but as his condition deteriorated, he was brought to a hospital here Sunday morning. The doctors attending to him gave him some medicines after which the player returned to Nayagarh.
Sunday evening, Kedar developed acute pain in the abdomen area. He was rushed back by his friends and relatives to the same hospital here and he was admitted. But his condition deteriorated and he breathed his last Monday morning. His relatives alleged that had the doctors who attended to the player Sunday morning, been more careful, Kedar wouldn’t have met such a tragic end.
Kedar captained the state team for the 2015-16 Santosh Trophy football tournament in the preliminaries. Football Association of Orissa (FAO) members including secretary Sanjay Behera, joint secretary Avijit Paul and few others visited the hospital to pay their last respects to Kedar. Few former and present players were also present.
Behera termed Singh’s death as a ‘great loss’. “This is a tragedy for Orissa football,” said Behera. “He was a very promising player and could have been an asset for the state, but tragedy cut his life short,” he added.
PNN