7-Year-Old In Coma After Judo Students Perform Shoulder Throw On Him, Coach Under Investigation

Judo Coach Under Investigation For Negligence Resulting In 7-Year-Old Boy’s Injuries

People often say that the best time to start learning martial arts is at a young age.

However, students as young as 7 are still quite physically delicate. Hence, it may be wise for coaches to treat them with care compared to older students.

A judo coach in Taiwan is currently under investigation for allegedly having a 7-year-old boy thrown to the ground over 20 times.

The boy is now in a near brain-dead condition, according to reports.

Judo coach allegedly asked boy to be thrown to ground repeatedly

Taiwan news outlet Apple Daily said the 7-year-old boy in Taichung city had enrolled for Judo on 8 Apr.

He was only in his second class when his coach, 67, had allegedly asked a 10-year-old student to throw him on the ground multiple times.

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Footage from the gym show the boy struggling to stand up and begging them to stop.

Boy complained his legs hurt, begged coach to stop

Taiwan English News reports that when the boy complained his legs hurt, the coach didn’t stop. He allegedly ordered others to perform the shoulder throw again.

At one point, the boy couldn’t get up.

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The coach reportedly thought he was pretending, and dragged him up before having him thrown to the ground several times again.

It was only when the boy ended up entirely unresponsive, that the coach stopped and asked someone to call the ambulance.

Reportedly declared brain dead after surgery

The boy’s father told reporters that his son suffered severe brain injury and cerebral haemorrhage, reports Liberty Times.

Doctors said the boy suffered injuries that looked like he had been in a traffic accident.

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Sadly, he was declared to be in a near brain-dead condition. And it is likely that he would remain in a vegetative state.

Coach does not have qualification to teach judo

According to Taipei Times, the boy’s parents are asking for the coach to be charged with negligence resulting in injuries.

In a bizarre twist, the Chinese Taipei Judo Federation found that the coach was not qualified to teach judo as he does not have a licence issued by them.

After viewing footage of the coach training his students, the federation pointed out that such exercises were “definitely not the way to teach children”.

They urge parents to send their children to train under qualified coaches. The federation added that they will also be stepping up inspections at gyms.

Hope prosecutors will mete out punishment after investigations conclude

It’s truly tragic that a young boy had suffered such a fate when learning the art of self defence.

And it’s even more worrisome that authorities later found that the coach he was training under, doesn’t possess any qualification to teach judo.

The federation will have to boost their efforts in the inspections of gyms in Taiwan, and ensure that those offering physical training lessons are certified to coach others.

As investigations are ongoing, we hope that prosecutors in Taiwan will consider the circumstances of the incident before meting out justice as they see fit.

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Featured image by MS News.