Saksham Yadav, the 23-year-old World Powerlifting Champion, died at the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma Centre on Sunday evening, after battling for his life for over 15 hours. Yadav and his friends met with an accident in the wee hours of Sunday morning. While four of them died on the spot, Yadav along with another powerlifter friend were rushed to a nearby hospital. Although his condition remained critical and the neuro-surgeons tried to revive him, but he breathed his last at 6:38 pm. "He had three cardiac arrests, two of which were at Max Hospital and the third one was in the casualty at the AIIMS. His brain had suffered injuries due to lack of oxygen. There was severe internal bleeding also," said Dr Rajesh Malhotra, Head of Trauma Centre, AIIMS. After attending an event, on his way back driving his sister's car, Yadav dropped his trainer, Sunil Lochak, in Timarpur at 12:30 am and then picked up others to celebrate a friend's birthday. The six friends met with an accident near the Singhu border after first hitting a divider and then crashing into an electricity pole approximately three hours after he had dropped his trainer. The two were first taken to Raja Harishchandra Hospital in Narela. From there, Yadav was first shifted to Max in Shalimar Bagh and then to AIIMS. "Doctors told us about his condition and informed that the next 24 hours were critical, but we were still hoping for a miracle to happen," says Sandeep Yadav, Yadav's cousin."It is a shock for all of us. He has left a big void in our lives," he adds. Yadav started as a professional powerlifter only three years back and in this short time, he bagged various medals, both nationally and internationally. He won a gold medal in Europe in June 2016, and a silver and two bronze medals in Russia four months later in October. A 'banner' from his Russia win was also found in the car which Yadav used to carry alone and also helped the family to identify him when they received pictures on WhatsApp. The young powerlifter had been engaged for a year now and was supposed to get married this year. LIFE CUT SHORT

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