School sacks coach after Indian-origin teen's death in Singapore

Singapore, Oct 14 (IANS) A sports school in Singapore has fired a badminton coach for failing to check a 14-year-old Indian-origin student's well-being before leaving the track, leading to his death, a media report said.

Pranav Madhaik, a Secondary 2 student at the Singapore Sports School (SSP) felt unwell after a fitness time trial and subsequently died in hospital, The Straits Times reported.

After conducting investigations, the SSP on Saturday said that the coach did not account for all his student-athletes before dismissing them from training, which was not in accordance with the school’s safety protocols.

On October 5, after completing a 400m fitness time trial at 6.26 p.m., Pranav told his badminton coach that he felt unwell and was asked to rest.

As Pranav rested, the coach left the track to brief other students and subsequently left the school, The Straits Times reported.

At around 6.40 p.m., a track and field coach noticed Pranav resting and gave him water.

He noticed that the teenager had difficulty standing even with assistance. The track coach activated the school’s boarding staff to assist at 6.45 pm as the boarding premises were close by.

An ambulance was called at 6.50 p.m. and arrived at 7.02 p.m.

In between, at 6.53 p.m., boarding staff called Pranav’s parents.

The badminton coach returned to the school and accompanied Pranav as he was conveyed to the National University Hospital at about 7.19 p.m.

Pranav died six days later on October 11 due to cardiac arrest, with antecedent cause of congenital malformation of coronary vessels.

The school authorities met Pranav’s parents on Friday evening and shared the findings with them.

Pranav’s father Prem Singh, 51, had told The Straits Times: “If we have a proper system in place there itself, we could have prevented this type of issue. The SSP is producing national players, so training is intense.

“They should have something there itself to handle the immediate emergencies, rather than having to wait for the ambulance and by the time you get there, the athlete is no more.”

The school said it is reviewing and strengthening all its safety protocols and has emphasised to coaches and staff the importance of adhering to them.

In addition, the school released a timeline of the events, noting that time trials and conditioning sessions are a regular part of student-athletes’ training plans.