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Young Delhi sprinter Sunny Sarkaria, who was in coma following a car accident on Friday, died at a city hospital on Tuesday, Delhi Athletics Association sources said. He was 21.
Sarkaria, who met with an accident at Paschim Vihar area while returning from Panipat, was admitted to Balaji Hospital, where he struggled for life for three days before being declared dead on Tuesday morning.
A 100 metres sprinter and member of the Delhi 4x100m relay team, Sarkaria was part of the Delhi contingent for the ongoing National Games in Guwahati, but the law student opted out of the competition citing academic commitments.
The last competitive outing for Sarkaria, who set an inter-varsity meet record of 10.7 seconds in the 100 metres in 2003-04, was this year's inter-university meet, where he was a part of the bronze winning Delhi 4x100m relay team. He finished sixth in 100m sprint in a timing of 11.06 seconds.
The promising athlete, who used to train under coach Gurbachan Singh Randhawa at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi, took to the sport after being inspired by his elder brother, Sandeep. The Sarkaria brothers, along with Piyush and Dinesh Rawat, had won 4x100m gold for Delhi at the Hyderabad National Games four years back.
Sarkaria's death cast a pall of gloom in athletics circles.
"He was a very gentle and talented boy. He was a strong potential for Delhi as well as for the country. We had high expectations from him," Athletics Federation of India director M L Dogra said.