2 lost in basketball court: One family recalls NBA dream, other those last moments

On Tuesday, Hardik Rathi, a 16-year-old national-level player died at the sports nursery after a basketball post with the hoop and ring collapsed into his chest as he attempted a dunk. Just two days earlier, at the Shaheed Brigadier Hoshiyar Singh stadium, another basketball pole fell on 15-year-old Aman leading to serious injuries and his death a day later.

Both the fallen poles, visibly rusted, remain on the ground as grim reminders — even today.

The dunk was Hardik’s favourite move, his uncle Sunil Rathi said, adding that “he looked up to LeBron James and wanted to reach his level at the NBA”. According to Sunil, Hardik had fever that morning “but he still went to practice for an upcoming national-level tournament in December in Mumbai”.

“He has inspired at least 30 boys from the village to take up sports. Hardik’s younger brother Pratik (12) is also a national-level player. He is still not able to process what happened and has gone very quiet,” Sunil said.

The family of Aman, 15, who died in a similar accident, in Bahadurgarh. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)

“It was at my home, close to Hardik’s, that we installed a steel basketball hoop on one of the walls in the courtyard. Once he began taking up the sport seriously, he would practice dunks at the hoop that has now gone slightly crooked as a result,” the uncle said.

Jagbir Singh (64), one of Hardik’s first coaches who continued to mentor him, said he was a very “potent” player.

“He would practice day and night, up to 10 hours. His father spent lakhs on training both his children, and was very proud of them. Hardik would dunk really well. He had a good jump, and he was also tall (about 6”2’),” the coach said.

At the home of Aman, meanwhile, the talk is not about basketball but of those final moments of despair.

“While we were on the ambulance from the local civil hospital to PGI Rohtak, he was speaking normally despite being severely injured. He asked us for water and to adjust the position of his leg, and told us about how much pain he was in,” said Aman’s father, Suresh Kumar (45), a member of the non-technical multi-tasking staff (MTS) on contract at the DRDO facility in Delhi.

According to Suresh, the family was “happy that he was taking up sports and encouraged it”, especially his two elder sisters — a 21-year-old pursuing her BSc from Daulat Ram College in Delhi, and the other a 17-year-old in Class 12.

At the PGI hospital that day, Suresh recalls medical staff trying unsuccessfully to take Aman’ blood samples twice. “But they could not, that is when we knew he was gone,” the father said.

Following the incidents, the Haryana Sports Department’s Director General, Sanjeev Verma, acknowledged that two promising athletes had died due to dilapidated equipment. And the government suspended the Rohtak district sports officer.

But for both families seeing justice, this is just “not enough”.

“We have demanded a proper indoor stadium in our village. Such an incident should not happen again. It is nothing but murder due to criminal negligence,” said Khadak Singh Rathi, Hardik’s cousin.

“For more than four years, local sportspersons, the panchayat and coaches have been sending representations to get the court facilities repaired and improved. In 2023, the Rohtak MP (Deepender Singh Hooda) sanctioned Rs 12.3 lakh for the ground, to which he added another Rs 6.2 lakh. Local residents have filed follow-up applications for the sanctioned funds. But we were recently told that the tender has been stuck,” he said.

In Bahadurgarh, officials said the ground is operated and maintained by the Education department. And, Aman’s father Suresh said an inquiry committee has started holding meetings. “The sports school said it is not responsible for the court outside school hours,” he said.

“The basketball pole right next to the one that killed my son had come crashing down three years ago, and this has happened now. The repair and maintenance has been pending but even here, they told us the tender is stuck,” Suresh said.

Summing up the anger at both households, Aman’s 29-year-old cousin Rohit Kumar said: “We don’t want the promised compensation of Rs 5 lakh, we just want these administrators to send their own children to the same ground.”