Twenty-one-year-old boxer Raju Budhamagar passed away Wednesday, a day after he fell down unconscious in the ring after receiving a punch during a semifinal match of the Inter-Municipality Boxing Tournament in Hetauda.
Before I begin, let me express a heartfelt condolence to the Budhamagar family. May his soul rest in peace.
Tragedy happens in sports as in any other fields, and tragedy in boxing is not uncommon. In the last three decades, more than 200 boxers have died during a bout or training. Despite that, the sport has endured the repeated call for ban owing to life risks. Fortunately, there were not much tragedies in boxing in Nepal, until this one. Although Nepal Boxing Association president Rabiraj Thapa recalled dying of a boxer during a training session three decades ago, Budhamagar´s death is the first major tragedy to happen to Nepali boxing.
But with Budhamagar´s tragic death, and also considering the on-field death of a 15-year-old footballer, Jigme Gyaljen Lama, during a school-level football match only six months ago, it´s high time for sports authorities and sports event organizers to be fully prepared to deal with any eventualities during games and work to minimize sports injuries and deaths.
The right course would be to formulate a set of medical guidelines by sports associations whose strict implementation should be monitored by the National Sports Council (NSC).
The guidelines should make it mandatory for organizers of the events to ensure that all medical pre-requisites are taken care of. This doesn´t only mean keeping an ambulance near the event site and a First-aid kit ready, as is the common practice right now.
A pre-match medical checkup should be made mandatory, especially, in sports that calls for risky contact between the players such as in boxing. Pesence of doctor or a team of doctors throughout the event should also be made compulsory for prompt action.
It took 15 minutes to take Budhamagar to a local hospital, where the doctors, after examining him, referred him to Bharatpur, more than an hour away. He was then referred to Neuro Hospital in Kathmandu, at least five hours away. It cannot be totally denied that the presence of a doctor with proper knowledge of sports medicine and preliminary care at the venue could have given the doctors at more well-equipped hospitals some more time to treat Magar.
Sports injuries are peculiar and there are extensive sports medicine courses for coaches and doctors. Many times, general physicians or even specialist doctors are unable to provide right and timely treatment to injured players because of the peculiar nature of injuries.
So, its up to sports associations and NSC to identify and groom doctors for sports medicine and have them around during major events to minimize the risks.
Having a pre-match checkup on players, or finding opportunities for doctors to study sports medicine or having them at the venue are going to cost money, which may be a big thing to ask for from the organizers in Nepal. But we must not forget that lives are precious than anything else. And, if the organizers of Hetauda´s boxing can announce Rs. 100,000 cash support to Budhamagar´s family, I am sure they could have had sufficient medical care facilities for the event with half that sum.
Budhamagar´s brother, a boxer himself, told Republica that ´the organizers were also responsible for his death as they should have checked players´ health before the bout´. It not only reflects the pain of losing a young brother but also a necessity felt by the boxers.
I urge the NSC, and all sports associations, to immediately formulate and strictly implement medical guidelines for events, especially contact sports, and look at possibilities of funding the trainings of doctors in sports medicine. That would be a good lesson to learn from, and a rightful honor to, the demise of a young athlete with a lot of potential.
R.I.P Raju Budhamagar. I pray for no more on-field tragedy.
(As published in Republica national daily)
