Stabbed outside Ludhiana stadium by gang of 4, judoka misses nationals; also robbed of bike.

Ludhiana: Being stabbed by four bike-jackers outside a stadium has forced a teenaged national-level judo player out of a major championship in Chandigarh.

The 17-year-old athlete, Aman Sharma, fractured a finger during the ambush near Guru Nanak Stadium, ending a year of intensive training for Monday’s national championship.

Aman, a high school student from Amritsar training under the state-run Sports Authority of India (SAI) programme in Ludhiana, was ambushed around 12.30am while taking a fellow athlete to the hospital for a medical emergency.

Police claim that Sharma and his teammate, Sehbaz Singh, were riding toward Dayanand Medical College and Hospital when two men intercepted them near the Rakh Bagh parking area. On a false pretext that Aman had harassed their sister via text messages, the gang hit him and tried to seize his motorcycle.

When Aman resisted, two more men armed with knives joined the attack. Sehbaz Singh fled into the park to seek help, while the gang stabbed Aman, fractured his hand, and fled on his motorcycle.

“I am more upset about missing the nationals,” Aman said. “We practice tirelessly throughout the year for this opportunity, and I missed it because of this incident.”

The investigating officer, head constable Ashish Kumar, said police had registered a first-information report (FIR) under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for robbery, armed attack, and acting with common criminal intention.

Detectives are reviewing CCTV footage from the stadium’s precinct to identify the suspects.