CWG swimmer from Chennai assaulted

CHENNAI: Hardly had the excitement of being selected for the Commonwealth Games sunk in when MB Balakrishnan got the shock of his life. The 21-year-old swimmer was riding his bike to the SDAT swimming pool in Shenoy Nagar for an early-morning session on Sunday when unknown assailants attacked him with cricket stumps injuring him on the head, shoulder, arms and legs.

He has been admitted to MR Hospital in Aminjikarai where he received five stitches on the head. The Anna Nagar Police have registered a case and three special teams have been set up under the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Villivakkam) to probe the case.

“All he remembers is a brutal blow to his head when he was negotiating a speedbreaker on Eighth Cross Street on Second Main Road in Shenoy Nagar,” said his father M B Badrinath, a doctor at M R Hospital.

Though Balakrishnan regained consciousness, he was helpless.

“They were all over me and I had no time to react,” recollected the backstroke specialist. “Fortunately, some autorickshaw drivers took me to the hospital. The attackers fled on their bikes.” Balakrishnan, a third-year BE student of Anna University, won gold and silver medals at the recent South Asian Federation Games. He was supposed to receive a medal and Rs 1.3-lakh cash award from the Chief Minister on Monday.