Kolkata: South African bodybuilding champion Sifiso Lungelo Thabete died after an attempted back-flip went wrong as he landed on his neck during a local event, according to information reaching here.
In a video which has gone viral in the internet, the 23-year-old is seen entering a gymnasium and amidst loud cheers, he steps foot on the mat and jumps in the air to perform the back-flip but tragically he missed his mark as he landed right on his neck. After he landed, he lay motionless on the mat for a while before he was assisted by several people.
The incident took place during a local bodybuilding event in Emlazi, Thabethe’s hometown this past Saturday. According to reports from the UK Mirror, the bodybuilder succumbed to injuries and died of a broken neck.
“The bodybuilding community was shocked and saddened by the tragic news of the death of Sifiso Lungelo Thabete, a bodybuilder from Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal, at the weekend,” read the article written by South Africa’s bodybuilding magazine Muscle Evolution on their website.
The magazine also added, “impressed the crowd and the judges with unbelievable muscle size and maturity beyond his age’ in his most recent competition”.
According to the magazine, Thabethe had recently won the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Muscle Mulisha Grand Prix competition in the U-23 and 75 kg division in July. He was also the IFBB junior world champion upto 75kg category.
This is indeed an unfortunate incident and SportsCrunch extends condolences to his family.