Late Arpita Nand’s brother Anirban Nandy, also a table tennis player of South Eastern Railway, still cannot believe he lost his 32-year-old sister. He heard the tragic news when he was on the way to Sagar Dutta Hospital in North 24 Parganas on Friday evening. 

Arpita was an employee of DGQA under the Union defense ministry under the sports quota. She was posted at Kanpur and was representing North Zone in the All India DGQA Inter-Zonal Table Tennis competition. 

Anirban said, “I saw the video minutely. After winning all her matches Arpita was handshaking with her teammates and suddenly collapsed.” 

Arpita had a heart blockade that was caught by the doctors in 2000. She was only nine years old at that time. Following a micro-surgery, Arpita had to take a lay-off from table tennis for the next couple of years. But since she resumed playing after a couple of years' lay-off was never plagued by any heart disease. Did it revive after 24 long years again? The question is also in Anirban's mind. 

Her brother remembered, “After a couple of years’ lay-off from table tennis Arpita resumed playing and I never saw she was plagued by heart disease any time."

He added, "But the tragedy was that Arpita’s journey ended with the primary suspect of cardiac arrest once again. I still remember the last graphics of the ECG report that showed straight lines!"   

The anguished brother now feeling if the competition had been in Kolkata instead of Ichapur, they might have had an opportunity to save her life. The senseless Arpita was first taken to a local hospital at Ichapur. 

Due to a lack of infrastructure, she then was taken to a private hospital at Barrackpur. However, the private hospital also avoided admitting and taking care of Arpita and recommended taking her to Sagar Dutta Hospital at Kamarhati, North 24 Parganas. By that time everything was over.