A DOCTOR who attended to a 17-year-old polytechnic student after he was injured at a taekwondo tournament has described the case as 'very unique'.

Dr Carol Lee Wei Hsin, Registrar of the emergency department of Changi General Hospital, said from her experience and reading literature, there were very few cases of a ruptured carotid artery at a sports event.

CT scans showed that Mr Vincent Tan Sze Hao's neck artery had ruptured, causing massive amount of blood to rush into the brain and collect. Despite an operation, Mr Tan died four days later after he was kicked by his 15-year-old opponent he was sparring with at Kampong Kembangan community centre last July 5.

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