IMPHAL, FEB 20: Disaster struck the National Games Village at the Longol foothills. In a matter of hours separated by a tense night, a boxer died, an athlete was beaten up and there were rumours of a couple of women athletes having been molested by their own colleagues.K Karunakaran, a 28-year-old boxer from Tamil Nadu in the middleweight category, died this morning of a cardiac arrest. Karunakaran collapsed while jogging early n the morning and was declared dead at the Main Medical Centre at the Village at 7.15 am.In another incident, Services long jumper and silver medallist in the event, R Sajeevan, was severly beaten up at the Village yesterday evening at around 8.30 pm for having allegedly misbehaved with a Manipuri cyclist. Sanjeevan is said to be in a serious condition and has been admitted to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences.Further, there were rumours of molestation incidents in the Village. Two girls from two different Northern states are said to have been molested by their malecolleagues, who were inebriated.Karunakaran was attempting to lose weight and some of his colleagues said that he was also not eating properly. At the same time he was overdoing on the exercise front. Karunakaran's body was to be airlifted to Chennai and will be escorted by TN and Manipur Olympic Association officials.Meanwhile, last night Sanjeevan was alleged to have misbehaved with a Manipuri cyclist who was said to be making her way out of the dining hall. Sajeevan said he had accidentally touched her. But as the girl raised an alarm, Sanjeevan ran towards the Kerala cycling team's quarters. A few Manipur team members chased him down and beat him up with iron rods even as the Games Village police failed to control the situation despite firing some rounds in air. An unidentified participant is also said to have attempted to snatch away a police officer's pistol. Services team members apparently came out to protect their colleague, and in the process got involved as did some Kerala participants. Bythe time the situation was brought under control, Sanjeevan had a bloodied face and was in a bad shape.The police called the whole incident a misunderstanding and said they took place because of the presence of non-athletes in the Village. Who these non-athletes were and how they got in is something no one is willing to answer.
