Pooja Kumari, a national level athlete, lost her life while taking selfie near a lake in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) academy campus in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The incident took place last week while she was returning to the campus after her regular practice session. According to the local police, Pooja was taking a selfie near the harvesting plant, beside the pond situated behind a cricket field on the SAI campus. Reports also suggested that she was accompanied by two other female athletes. A detailed investigation has been initiated regarding the incident. The police are also questioning the SAI authorities. A senior SAI Bhopal official said, “Pooja didn’t know how to swim at all, hence she couldn’t save herself. Both of her friends also didn’t know how to swim hence despite all their efforts they couldn’t save her in time. She fell off the ledge while bending down to take a selfie, but lost her balance. The pool was relatively deep, and she couldn’t climb out or grab onto her friends. Her friends came back to the hostel to get help from the hostel, but it was too late. We are deeply saddened by her demise and she was one of the top steeplechase runners in our setup. She won Madhya Pradesh state several times, and was targeting a senior national medal soon.” The 20-year-old, who hailed from Uttarakhand, was a promising steeplechase aspirant and had joined SAI two years ago. She was quickly promoted to the SAI Centre of Excellence owing to her performances. During her time at the junior and sub-junior level she had also won the sub-junior national level gold in Delhi. However, she was out of the sport for close to three months nursing an injury.
