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A player in the Ukrainian Premier League thinks fast to save his opponent
Jaba Kankava pulled Oleh Husyev's tongue out of his throat after he had been knocked unconscious
The incident occurred during Sunday's match between Dinamo Kiev and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Husyev was kept in hospital overnight after suffering multiple injuries
Football rivalry was put aside in Ukraine on Sunday as one player acted quickly to save the life of one of his opponents.
Dinamo Kiev captain Oleh Husyev was left unconscious after colliding with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk goalkeeper Denis Boyko in the first half of the Ukrainian Premier League match between the two teams.
After Husyev hit the ground, Dnipro’s Jaba Kankava was quickly by his side.
Kankava pulled open Husyev’s mouth and dislodged his tongue, which had become stuck in his throat. If Kankava hadn’t acted, Husyev could have choked to death.
There’s one thing I can say for sure,” Mykhailo Radutskyi, president of the Borys Clinic where Husyev is being treated, said in a statement, “the Dnipro player (Jaba Kankava) saved Oleh’s life.
“He acted like a competent emergency paramedic.”
Dinamo’s doctor Leonid Myronov confirmed Sunday that Ukraine international Husyev would be kept overnight at the hospital.
“At the hospital Oleh was medically examined,” Myronov said of the 30-year-old. “He has a closed craniocerebral injury, medium severity concussion, facial soft tissue bruise, big graze on the face, mandibular joint bruise and damage of three teeth.
“He returned to Kiev with the team and was taken to Borys clinic. He’ll be examined here. Oleh will spend the night under the care of doctors and after that we’ll decide how to cure him.”