Two Indian hockey Olympic champions died on Saturday as a result of a corona infection.
The virus is spreading rapidly in India.
New Delhi - Former Indian hockey professionals Ravindra Pal Singh (60) and Maharaj Krishan Kaushik (66) died on Saturday as a result of a corona infection.
The two top athletes won the gold medal with the Indian national hockey team at the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. As their families announced, the athletes died a few hours one after the other.
Even treatment with a ventilator could not save the lives of the Olympians.
India's minister ennobles gold medalists: "Contribution to sport will always be remembered"
Ravindra Pal Singh and Maharaj Krishan Kaushik also took part in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles four years later, their triumph in Moscow in 1980 being the last hockey gold medal in India to date.
Kaushik also celebrated successes on the sidelines after his active career.
As a coach, he led the Indian men's hockey team to the gold medal at the 1998 Asian Games. India's Sports Minister Kiren Rijuju sums up his services to the sport of hockey: "His contribution to Indian sport will always be remembered".
India hit hard by corona pandemic - lack of oxygen and ventilators
The coronavirus * is rampant in the 1.3 billion-inhabitant country, the health system is completely overloaded. The Indian Ministry of Health reported over 400,000 new infections and 4,000 deaths for the past Saturday. According to official figures, 21.9 million people have been infected with the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. Despite the rising corona numbers, the Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided against a tough, nationwide lockdown. Experts therefore fear that the numbers could continue to rise until the end of the month, reports the
AFP
.
The shortage of oxygen, medical equipment and hospital beds is already acute.
Most recently, the German government sent ventilators to India.
The corona numbers are also increasing in the neighboring countries of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
An end to the wave of infections is not in sight for the time being.
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jjf
)
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