It happened twice in November last year and in April this year. And it has happened yet again this month. A basketball pole collapsed on a boy at an upmarket apartment complex in Gurugram's Sector 84, leaving him fighting for his life in hospital.
The incident has raised questions over maintenance of facilities at Antriksh Heights.
The details are unclear at this time but this is fourth - arguably avoidable - tragedy in the past nine months.
In each of the three earlier incidents the young men were killed.
The most recent was in early April.
A 20-year-old cadet at a marine engineering institute in Pune died after a basketball backboard fell on his head. He was rushed to a hospital but his life could not be saved.
Vishal Verma, a second-year student at Tolani Maritime Institute, doing pull-ups on the basketball hoop when the entire frame collapsed. The young cadet bled heavily as fellow students and staff rushed him to a hospital.
Sadly, doctors there declared him dead on arrival.
RECAP | Basketball Hoop, Pull-Ups, Then A Tragedy: Marine Engineering Cadet Dies
According to Vishal's LinkedIn account, he was from Basti in Uttar Pradesh. He joined the Pune-based institute in 2024. His four-year B.Tech course was to end in 2028.
Dr Sanjeet Kanungo, the institute's principal, called the death "very tragic". "... He was trying to do pull-ups using the basketball hoop... We will investigate what went wrong," he said.
Local police filed a case but there have been no arrests or progress reports since.
In November a twin tragedy struck.
A falling basketball pole crushed a 16-year-old boy - a national-level basketball player - as he was training in Haryana's Rohtak district. CCTV footage showed Hardik Rathi training alone; he runs in from the three-point line and jumps, touching the basket.
He did it twice. The first time was uneventful. The second was not.
RECAP | On Camera, Teen Basketball Player Dies In Freak Court Accident In Rohtak
He clutches the rim and then, to his shock, the pole falls on him. The board's full weight hits his chest. His friends and playmates rush on to the court to lift the pole but the damage was done.
Hardik's neighbours said he had been selected for the national team and had returned from a training camp.
His father, Sandeep Rathi, had enrolled Hardik and his younger brother at a sports club near their home, where they could learn and practice.
Again, a police case was registered. It is unclear what action has been taken.
Days earlier, in Bahadurgarh district, Aman (second name unknown), died at Rohtak's Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, after a pole fell on him.
A Class 10 student who recently won a medal at his school's annual sports event, his family members later accused doctors at PGIMS of not providing proper care to the teenager.
