Lokomotiv Moscow of Russia defender, Bryan Oladapo Idowu is in morning along with his teammates, following the death of one of their colleagues after an indoor training session, megasportsarena.com reports.
Bad news hit Idowu and the entire team, as well as their fans in the Russian capital and beyond, following confirmation that a defender in their squad, Innokenty Samokhvalov died at the age of 22 following a training session at home.
A bigger part of the sorrow will be for Idowu, who joined Lokomotiv in 2018, after previous stints with Smena, Zenit St. Petersburg and Amkar Perm of Russia and Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine, as he is a fellow-defender with Samokhvalov, who joined the club as a youth player five years ago, but was reported dead on Tuesday, after he suffered heart failure during a solo session.
It surely is a psychological blow to Idowu, whose father is Nigerian and his mother half-Russian-half-Nigerian, but he was born and raised in St. Petersburg and speaks perfect Russian, despite the family initially moving to Owerri at age six, then returned to Russia after some years.
In November 2017, Idowu was called up to the Nigerian national team for their friendly against Argentina in Krasnodar, Russia on November 14, 2017, when he made his debut as a half-time substitute for Ola Aina, and scored Nigeria’s third goal in a 4-2 win, which ultimately earned him a spot in the Super Eagles’ squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in the country of his birth.
However, his days in Moscow are not riddled with sorrow, as the right-back, who is currently in lockdown with other players of the Russian Premier League during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, hears the news of how Samokhvalov, who was on loan with Lokomotiv’s reserves team, Kazanka, in Russia’s third division, was training on his own when he suddenly slumped.
Kazanka coach, Alexander Grishin told the Russian news agency, RIA Novos, “It’s horrible. The doctors have told us the cause of death was heart failure;” while an official statement by the Moscow-based Russian Premier League side read: “FC Lokomotiv is shocked by what happened. This is a huge sorrow for our family. We express our condolences to his family and friends.”
