August 4, 2009:

Indian men’s hockey goalkeeper Baljit Singh is to leave for America tonight for post operative treatment at John Hopkins Medical Centre, Baltimore after his eye surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi last month.

Baljit had been badly injured in his right eye with a golf ball while training at the coaching camp at Pune and had to be airlifted immediately to Delhi.

The ultrasonography tests showed the globe to be shrunken and deformed with the intra-ocular contents showing heterogeneous appearance with hemorrhage in the vitreous.

A four hour emergency operation was conducted by a team of surgeons led by Dr. (Prof) Sudershan Khokhar, cornea specialist.

28 year old Baljit is being accompanied by Dr. Kiran Gopalakrishnan, a member of the AIIMS team that performed the surgery.

He will also be examined by the world renowned eye specialist Dr. Robert Morris at Alabama next week.

The Government of India and Hockey India have co-ordinated and streamlined all formalities to send Baljit to the United States without any delay.

HOCKEY INDIA MEDIA RELEASE