TWO members of GB Boxing’s medical team have helped to save the life of the Uzbekistan boxing head coach after he suffered a cardiac arrest at Paris 2024.
Doctor Harj Singh and physio Robbie Lillis were the first to respond when Tulkin Kilichev was celebrating a gold medal for Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusmatov in the warm-up area at Stade Roland Garros on Thursday suddenly went into cardiac arrest.
Singh performed CPR whilst Lillis was able to use a defibrillator to bring Kilichev back to consciousness.
Lillis said: “The [Uzbek] coaching team came back into the warm-up area and they were all celebrating, and then shouting came from that area that wasn’t celebrations at all. There was a cry for a doctor, for help. Harj was the first person who responded and I followed with the emergency trauma bag that we carry with us.
“When I arrived about 30 seconds after Harj, he had already started performing CPR on the coach. Quite a lot of coaches were pretty visibly distressed around the whole situation, so it took us a moment to clear all of them out of the way. I opened up the trauma bag, got the defib out, got the pads on him as quickly as possibly. Once that analysed his heart rhythm, it said a shock was advised so we cleared everybody away and gave him a shock.
“Initially he didn’t come back but, about 20 to 30 seconds later, after Harj continued doing CPR, all of a sudden he came back conscious with us, which was great.”
Kilichev was then taken to hospital, where he is understood to be in a stable condition.
All Team GB medical staff are required to do regular training at the UK Sports Institute, including a pitch-side trauma course which prepares them for sudden events such as this.
Quote taken from PA Agency.
