Vijayawada: A 26-year-old engineer succumbed to cardiac arrest while he was playing cricket at Kowthavaram village of Gudlavalleru mandal in Krishna district on Wednesday evening. The deceased was identified as Kommalapati Sai Kumar, who worked in an IT company in Hyderabad.
According to police and the locals, Sai Kumar had come to his home town on Sunday morning for Christmas holidays. On Wednesday, he was playing cricket match in the locality when he complained of sudden uneasiness and chest pain and sat on the ground.
Sai’s team members offered to take him to hospital but he refused citing that he often experiences such pain and drank some water. A few minutes later, Sai returned to the field and started bowling. In four throws during an over, he took one wicket and celebrated it with his teammates. When he went ahead to throw his fifth bowl, Sai experienced chest pain once again and collapsed on the ground.
The techie’s teammates and friends performed a cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him and immediately rushed him to a hospital at Gudlavalleru. From there, Sai was referred to another hospital in Gudivada, where upon reaching, the doctors declared him dead.
The Gudlavalleru police said that they were aware about the incident, but didn’t receive any complaint from the 26-year-old techie’s family members as there was nothing suspicious about his death.
It may be recalled that in June, 2023, another 26-year-old lawyer named Manikantha Naidu had died while playing cricket at Gajuwaka in Vizag city. Manikantha had collapsed due to cardiac arrest, soon after the match concluded. Though the medical team arrived at the spot and performed an examination on him, they could not save the young lawyer. Following his death, the legal fraternity had said that Naidu Manikantha had a pre-existing cardiac problem.
Cardiologists said that prevalence of heart ailments has increased in the past few years due to multiple factors ranging from unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. They advised everyone, who has not played a sport for a long time, to be cautious. They also suggested that if anyone experiences any sign of distress, they should immediately raise and alarm and seek medical assistance.