The Lithuanian judo community is in deep mourning.
On Sunday, it was reported that Rokas Nenartavičius, a 30-year-old titled judo master from Alytus, who recently worked as a coach in Switzerland, passed away.
It has now been revealed that the Lithuanian died in this country in a terrible accident.
“It’s indescribably painful, I am in shock,” said former coach of R. Nenartavičius, Zenonas Vencevičius, through tears. “But thank you for calling, because various speculations are arising.
People don’t know that a terrible accident happened.”
Talent hindered by severe injuries
R. Nenartavičius was a talented judo fighter who came to this sport after trying swimming and karate in Alytus, and achieved significant successes on the tatami.
Having become a multiple Lithuanian champion in various age categories, the gifted Alytus native also won silver (U18) and bronze (U17) medals at the European Junior Judo Championships and as many as 15 medals (including three gold) at the European Cup youth competitions.
R. Nenartavičius also trained in Japan, where he went three times, including training camps lasting one year and three months in this country.
According to Z. Vencevičius, his protégé could have achieved even more if it weren’t for a series of severe injuries.
“He was a very talented athlete, but was terribly plagued by injuries – there were clavicle fractures, shoulder dislocations, cruciate ligament and vertebra injuries – Rokutis kept breaking and breaking, there were clinics and surgeries.
He was very sensitive, often took a defensive position and instinctively reset either his shoulder or arm. He used to say: ‘Coach, I pray in church, but I don’t understand why this is happening to me.’ The injuries relentlessly pursued him,” said Z. Vencevičius, considered the father of judo in Alytus.
Having completed coaching studies in Kaunas, R. Nenartavičius met a French woman who was studying there as well.
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Having fallen in love, in recent years they lived in Switzerland – the French woman, who learned Lithuanian, worked there as a doctor, and R. Nenartavičius worked as a coach.
“Rokutis was very talented, very honest and humble. We had big plans,” Z. Vencevičius lamented, shaken by the terrible news from Switzerland.
Incomprehensible death
The terrible accident was also described by the Swiss media on Sunday.
Portals, including “20minutes” and “Blick,” described the fatal scene without naming the participants, but detailed the facts of the accident, which were confirmed by Z. Vencevičius, who communicated with the athlete’s relatives on Monday.
R. Nenartavičius had stopped at a traffic light when the red signal was on.
Then he was hit by a car speeding at high speed, whose driver is suspected of racing with another speeding car.
The impact was so strong that the Lithuanian flew about 100 meters along the road.
The driver, born in 1994, left the crime scene but was later detained by the police. The other participant in the race has not yet been detained, but his identity has been established, and French authorities will handle him, as he is from that country, wrote the Swiss media.
The severely injured Lithuanian was taken to a hospital in Geneva. Doctors still fought for his life but eventually had to give up and disconnect the special equipment the next morning, as life was extinguished due to injuries sustained in the accident.
Swiss police are now conducting interviews and an investigation, and it is not yet clear when the farewell to R. Nenartavičius might take place.
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