Archery coach Lenin dies in road accident

HYDERABAD - Indian archery coach Cherukuri Lenin was killed and two Delhi Commonwealth Games silver medallists, Ritul Chatterjee and Chittibomma Jignesh, were injured in a road accident near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh early Sunday. Lenin’s death has left the sports fraternity shocked.

International archer-turned-coach Lenin, his father Cherukuri Satyanarayana, Ritul and Jignesh were returning to Vijayawada after attending a felicitation function in Hyderabad when the sports utility vehicle (SUV) they were travelling in toppled after hitting a road divider.

Police said the accident took place when Lenin, who was driving the Scorpio, tried to avoid a collision with a vehicle coming from the opposite direction and in the process hit the divider.

Lenin, 25, died on the spot while Ritul and Jignesh suffered minor injuries. They were discharged from a hospital in Vijayawada after first aid. Lenin’s father escaped unhurt.

The accident took place at Ibrahimpatnam near Vijayawada, about 300 km from here.

“The accident happened at 2 a.m. on National Highway 5. We were coming back from the ceremony organised by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah. My son Lenin was driving and we were almost home when our car collided with an autorickshaw coming from the opposite side. The auto driver violated the rules and was driving on the wrong lane,” Cherukuri

Satyanarayana, Lenin’s father and organising secretary of Andhra Pradesh Archery Association, told IANS.

Satyanarayana, his wife and other family members were inconsolable as a pall of gloom descended on their house in Vijayawada. Lenin, who earlier represented India in compound archery, was one of the coaches of the Commonwealth Games medal winning men’s and women’s team.

His death came as big shock to the sports fraternity in Andhra Pradesh as it was celebrating the medal-winning performance of several athletes in the Commonwealth Games.

Ritul was still in a state of shock over the death of his coach. “He had slightly turned the vehicle to avoid a collision with an autorickshaw but since it was raining the vehicle hit the divider,” said the young archer.

“It is a tragic incident. He was a very good human being. I interacted with him a lot of times. I am glad that Jignesh and Ritul are safe,” Paresh Nath Mukherjee, secretary general of the Archery Association of India, told IANS.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister K. Rosaiah had felicitated all the CWG medal winners and their coaches at the function Saturday night.

Lenin, a silver medallist in the team (compound) event at Asian Grand Prix Archery Tournament in 2005, was the personal coach of Ritul, Jignesh and other upcoming archers.

Ritul and Jignesh combined with seasoned archer Chinna Raju Srither to win silver in the men’s compound category segment at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Andhra Pradesh has contributed six gold, eight silver and five bronze medals to the country’s tally at the Games.