23 September,2011 08:21 AM IST | | Agencies
A Ukraine dumpling-eating contest to find the person who could eat 10 of the dough balls most quickly went horribly wrong when the 77-year-old champion keeled over and died.
The winner Ivan Mendel, had just won his prize, a one-litre jar of sour cream, when he began to feel ill.
"The old man got sick and fell to the ground," said an unnamed witness. "The ambulance arrived when he was already dead. The doctor said that he probably choked on vomit."
Deadly: After consuming 10 dumplings in half a minute, Ivan Mendel
collapsed and died. Representation pic
The contest was held on Saturday in the south-east Ukrainian town of Tokmak as part of its city-day celebrations.
Dumplings, known in Ukraine as vareniki, are a staple of the regional diet; they are usually stuffed with mushrooms, potatoes or cherries.
Organisers of the contest said the dumplings they usedu00a0-- filled with potatoesu00a0-- had been frozen and packaged and bought from a local market.
Organisers struck back at accusations that the contest had killed the man, saying Mendel had eaten just 10 dumplings in all. He ate them, reportedly, in half a minute.
"A 77-year-old pensioner ate his portion more quickly than his opponent," said Viktor Khalamovsky, one of the contest organisers.
"He won a prize for thatu00a0-- a jar of sour cream. What happened to him after his victory, the organisers don't know."
Officials in Tokmak, which refused to comment on the incident, but said representatives had attended the Mendel's funeral on Tuesday.
