Vishwa Deenadayalan of Tamil Nadu, a promising Indian table tennis
player, died in a traffic accident on Sunday on his way to Shillong to compete
in the 83rd Senior National and Inter-State Championships. According to the
report, the police said the taxi that he was travelling in collided with a
truck in Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district.

Vishwa Deenadayalan, a product of Anna Nagar’s Krishnaswamy TT
Club, had received praise from India’s veteran paddler and Olympian Sharath
Kamal. Deenadayalan made a smooth transition from cadet to sub-junior to junior
section. He had also won the national cadet and sub-junior titles. During the
Dehra Dun National Ranking Tournament in January, the Loyola College B. Com
student won the Under-19 boys title. The 18-year-old gifted youngster, who has
won multiple national titles and international medals, was set to represent
India in the WTT Youth Contender in Linz, Austria, beginning April 27.

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He was travelling from Guwahati to Shillong in a car with three
teammates when a 12-wheel trailer approaching from the opposite direction
ploughed through the road divider, colliding with the vehicle near Shangbangla.

Deenadayalan’s father and two other members of his family arrived
in Guwahati on Sunday night, and his embalmed body was flown to Chennai the
following morning.

The driver died on the spot, according to the Table Tennis
Federation of India (TTFI), while Deenadayalan was certified dead by physicians
at the Nongpoh Civil Hospital.

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Ramesh Santosh Kumar, Abinash Prasannaji Srinivasan and Kishore
Kumar, his teammates, received serious injuries but are now stable.

Offering his condolences, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin
said, “Shocked beyond words to hear about the heartbreaking & untimely
demise of our young, promising Table Tennis player Vishwa Deenadayalan. He was
a legend-in-making and it pains me that he left us too soon.”