Asian Games gold-medal winning boxer Dingko Singh has revealed that he lapsed into depression as he was unable to travel to New Delhi for his cancer treatment due to the nationwide lockdown. Dingko Singh was on Saturday airlifted from Imphal to the capital for his liver cancer treatment.
“If the ambulance wouldn’t have been arranged, it could have been a big problem for me. Even though I wanted to come to Delhi, I couldn’t come because of the lockdown,” Dingko said in a video message released by the Boxing Federation of India.
“During the critical time when doctors had told me to come, I could not manage to come time to time, and so I went into depression.”
Dingko’s transfer to Delhi by a Spicejet air ambulance arranged by BFI president Ajay Singh after he missed a scheduled radiation therapy session due to the coronavirus lockdown. The 41-year-old was due to undergo radiation a fortnight ago but could not arrive in Delhi.
“The way BFI and our president Ajay Singh managed to arrange the air ambulance understanding my problem...I mean, I felt better in Manipur itself when I came to know about it and now after reaching here, I am feeling much better,” Dingko said.
Accompanied by his wife Ngangom Babai Devi, Dingko, was taken straight to the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), where he is currently undergoing his treatment.
Dingko, an Arjuna and Padma Shri awardee, is battling a relapse of liver cancer. The Manipuri won the Asian Games gold in the 1998 edition in Bangkok.
“Now my treatment has started and my doctors and sisters are keeping a check on me and taking care of my requirements from time to time. Sometimes I am called for tests or something else and I don’t realise how time goes now and I feel the strength to live again,” he said.