State-level rower attacked in Nashik robbery attempt

NASHIK: A state-level rower was seriously injured when a youth and two minors attacked him with a chopper after demanding money and tobacco from him here around 8pm on Tuesday.
The city-based sportsman, Nikhil Sonawane (23), was admitted to a private hospital, where he has received six stitches near the elbow of his left hand and two on the shoulder. Doctors said his condition was stable.
The Panchavati police rounded up the three suspects on Wednesday morning. "The trio are residents of a nearby slum. Deepak Dangre (21) has been arrested while his friends, both 17 years old, have been detained," said senior police inspector KD Patil of the Panchavati police station.
Sonawane was practising for the state rowing championship to be held in Pune from May 17. "I will not be able to participate in this year's event now," he said regretfully from his hospital bed.
The state championship event was also meant to serve as a mechanism for shortlisting participants for the national championship. He had won the gold medal in coxless four event at the state rowing championship last year.
Sonawane told TOI that he was returning home on his bicycle after practising after practising at a boat club in the Gangapur Road area.
"The trio stopped me near the Chopda Lawns and demanded money and tobacco. I told them that I do not smoke and was carrying no cash. They kicked my cycle and started thrashing me soon after I fell," he said.
Sonawane said that when he tried to defend himself, one of them drew a chopper he had hidden beneath his shirt and attacked him. "He would have struck my head had I not tried to block him. My hand was injured though."
Some fellow rowers, also taking the same road home, rushed to Sonawane's rescue and took him to hospital. The attackers fled the scene soon after spotting his friends.
Sonawane's trainer, Ambadas Tambe, said he had been training hard and comes from a family of modest means. "He lives with his mother and brother. He is good at rowing and could soon become an internationally acclaimed rower. It is sad that he will have to give the state championship a miss."