Chennai: National swimming champion M. B. Balakrishnan, who had won gold medals in the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka and in various national meets, died in a road accident in Chennai on Tuesday night. The 29-year-old was riding his bike along the EVR Salai at Arumbakkam when he fell under a concrete mixer lorry, which ran over and killed him.
Police said Balakrishnan was riding a bullet with a friend on pillion on Tuesday night. When they were on EVR Salai, he tried to overtake the lorry. The bike slipped and he lost control of the vehicle. Balakrishnan fell before the lorry while his friend fell the other side. The front wheel of the lorry ran over his stomach killing him on spot. His friend escaped unhurt, police said. The Anna Nagar traffic investigation police registered a case and sent his body to the Kilpauk Government Medical College hospital for post mortem.
The lorry driver, Subramaniyan of Villupuram, was detained. Police recovered the CCTV footage of the freak accident to probe the case further.
Balakrishnan was until recently working in software development in the United States and had come to India for vacation. He was an alumnus of Guindy Engineering College and he did his MS in the US and was working there. He was a former 50-metre national record holder. He went on to win the gold in the 50-metre backstroke and silver in the 100-metre backstroke event in the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka in 2010.
