Two India U-19 footballers Rohit Dhanu and Manish Chaudhary suffered injuries when they tried to jump off a malfunctioned cable car in the amusement park near their official hotel in Kartepe, Turkey, The Indian Express reported on Sunday.
The two players, who are part of the India U-19 team touring Turkey for an exposure tour to prepare for the AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers to be played in Saudi Arabia in November, were given a day off by coach Floyd Pinto as they were not part of the playing group against local club Kocaelispor U-19 on Saturday.
Both Chaudhary and Danu are integral part of the team. While the former plays for Bengaluru FC u-19 team in the domestic league, the latter plies his trade for I-League team Indian Arrows.
“They had free time so were out somewhere. Manish said he was in a lift with Danu. The lift suddenly stopped working and they tried to escape by jumping out of it. In the process, they hurt themselves badly. Manish has broken ribs and fractured leg while Danu has also injured his knee,” Manish’s father Sarvan Kumar Chaudhary was quoted as saying by the paper.
Before this match, the 22-member Indian squad had played two matches against their Oman counterparts, losing the first 2-1 and winning the second 1-0 with Danu scoring the winner. The third match against Jordan was abandoned due to difficult weather conditions.
A senior All India Football Federation told the paper that, “It was a ski lift, which malfunctioned for some reason. It was dark and foggy, and the lift was 10 feet from ground level. The players panicked and jumped, and landed awkwardly which led to these injuries.”
The players are expected to return to India on Monday following which they will undergo various test to get a better clarity on the extent of their injury.