‘Heard my Ukrainian coach’s family cry, I am worried’ : Paralympic medallist Sharad distressed by Russian operation

Paralympics bronze-medallist Sharad Kumar is closely tracking the Russian military operation in Ukraine as he is worried about the safety of his coach Nikitin Yevhen and distressed after being told that the area is next to an apartment that was his home during a long training stint there has been bombed.

Yevhen is based in Kharkiv, the second-largest city of Ukraine and around 500km from the capital Kyiv. Kumar trained under Yevhen in Kharkiv from 2017 till just before winning a high jump bronze in Tokyo Paralympics last year.

“When I spoke to my coach in the morning, he told me there were bombings in the city. I heard everybody in his family crying and I was feeling so terrible and helpless. He (coach) told me the whole family will be going down to the underground garage.” 

The 29-year-old Kumar again spoke to Yevhen’s daughter in the evening and said the family was in a state of shock and did not know what to do. —PTI