Racer Gaurav Gill's car involved in accident during National Rally Championship race, 3 people dead
Barmer (Rajasthan), Sep 21: Three people, including a minor, were killed after Arjun awardee rally driver Gaurav Gill's car hit a motorcycle during a National Rally Championship race here on Saturday.
Gill, who became the first motorsport driver to be conferred the Arjuna award earlier this year, has sustained injuries in his ribs and is also facing respiratory problems due to the crash during the Maxperience Rally, Round 3 of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC).
He has been kept under observation but is learnt to be out of danger.
The deceased Narendra, his wife Pushpa and their young son Jitendra were killed on the spot. The Rally has been called off due to the incident.
"Gaurav's was the first car on Stage 1. He was driving at a speed of 145kmph while taking a sharp left turn and within 5m-10m, collided with the motorcycle, which was right on the middle of the road," Vamsi Merla, promoter of INRC, told PTI on Saturday.
"Gaurav tried his best to pull the brakes but because of the speed, but he was unable to do anything," he added.
The NRC promoter alleged that despite repeated warnings highlighting the closure of the road during competition, the villagers broke the barricades put in place.
"We had been giving warning about the road closure to the villagers for the past 15 days. There were field marshals but one of the deceased (Narendra) argued with them and when the marshals were looking away, the man broke the barricade and entered the track," he said.
"It was an unfortunate incident that took place despite all the safety measures being in place," J Prithiviraj, president of FMSCI said.
"We extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved family. The entire motorsports fraternity stands with them in their grief," he added.
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Novak Djokovic declines to address a past interview about getting sick in Australia in 2022
Melbourne, Jan 10: Novak Djokovic did not want to rehash — or even discuss at all, really — what he said Friday was a months-old interview with GQ magazine in which he recalled having high levels of metal in his blood from food he was served while detained before being deported from Australia in 2022.
“I would appreciate not talking more in detail about that, as I would like to focus on the tennis and why I'm here,” Djokovic said ahead of the Australian Open, which starts Sunday (Saturday EST).
“If you want to see what I've said and get more info on that, you can always revert to the article,” Djokovic said about the piece posted online this week.
Djokovic is working with Andy Murray as his coach in Australia in a bid to become the first player in tennis history with 25 Grand Slam singles titles.
In a lengthy GQ story that covered several topics, Djokovic spoke about what happened three years ago, when he was not vaccinated against COVID-19 and was kicked out of Australia.
“I had some health issues. And I realized that in that hotel in Melbourne, I was fed with some food that poisoned me," he said. "I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but ... I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. I had ... very high level of lead and mercury.”
The 37-year-old Serbian did not directly answer at the end of Friday's news conference when asked whether he had any evidence linking the blood levels he described to GQ to the food he ate in detention.
