Kamal Ghorui
PUNE: A 20-year-old marine engineering student died after a basketball pole collapsed on him while he was exercising on the college campus in Maval taluka on Sunday morning.The victim, Vishal Verma, a second-year BTech student, was on his routine morning jog around 7.30am when he stopped at the basketball court and attempted pull-ups by holding onto the metal rim of the hoop. According to police and institute authorities, the structure failed to bear his weight, causing the ring to snap and the entire pole to come crashing down on him.The impact left Verma with a severe head injury after the heavy metal frame struck his skull.Students present at the spot and college authorities immediately rushed him to Talegaon General Hospital. However, despite efforts to save him, he succumbed to his injuries during treatment.Verma, a resident of the institute hostel, hailed from Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district. He had enrolled in the Pune-based institute in 2024, and his four-year marine engineering course was scheduled to conclude in 2028.Police officials said the incident occurred suddenly, leaving little time for intervention. An officer from Talegaon MIDC police station said the preliminary information suggests that the student was exercising when the structure gave way. “The post could not sustain the load and collapsed. We have registered a case of accidental death, and further investigation is underway,” the officer said to news agency IANS.Police inspector Santosh Patil said Verma had been heading back towards his hostel after jogging when he reached the basketball ground and stopped briefly before the accident occurred. He was initially taken back towards the hostel area before being shifted to hospital, where he was declared dead.Reacting to the incident, institute principal Sanjeet Kanungo termed it a “very tragic” loss. He said the student was attempting pull-ups on the basketball hoop when the entire frame collapsed, causing a fatal head injury. The institute is cooperating with authorities as the probe continues.Police sub-inspector Prashant Relekar said statements of college authorities and students are being recorded to ascertain whether there was any negligence in maintenance of the sports infrastructure.The incident echoes a series of similar tragedies reported in November 2025 in Haryana’s Rohtak and Bahadurgarh, where two teenage basketball players died within 48 hours after hoop poles collapsed during play or practice.In one case, a 16-year-old state-level player died after a heavy pole snapped while he briefly hung from the rim during a dunk attempt. Just two days earlier, another teenager had suffered fatal internal injuries when a corroded pole fell on him during practice.The back-to-back deaths had triggered widespread outrage, exposing lapses in maintenance of sports infrastructure. Authorities had ordered statewide inspections, removal of rusted equipment, and accountability reviews to prevent such avoidable accidents.The latest incident in Pune is likely to once again raise questions over safety checks and upkeep of sports facilities in educational institutions.
