In a horrific incident, IPL auctioneer Hugh Edmeades collapsed midway during IPL 2022 auction taking place in Bengaluru on Saturday.
The incident happened when the 63-year-old British auctioneer was taking through a long bidding war between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings over Sri Lankan all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga. The auction was halted when RCB made a Rs 10.75 crore bid for the Sri Lankan as the camera caught Edmeades lying flat on the floor at the venue.
An early lunch -- original lunch schedule was 3 PM IST -- was called following the incident and Edmeades was rushed to hospital, reported news agency PTI.
"He has been attended to by a doctor. He is doing fine, his blood pressure dropped suddenly and that was the reason for his sudden collapse.
We will know more once he has a thorough check-up," a BCCI source told PTI.
In December 2018, Hugh was appointed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as the auctioneer for the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL), only the second person to have been given the honour and privilege of conducting this prestigious auction.
Hugh is a British international fine art, classic car and charity auctioneer. In a 35-year career as a Christie’s auctioneer, he conducted more than 2,500 auctions, selling over 310,000 lots for a sum in excess of £2.7 billion.
Hugh has sold a wide range of items including Old Master, Impressionist & Contemporary paintings, fine furniture, Chinese ceramics & works of art, and film & sporting memorabilia. Whilst at Christie’s, Hugh auctioned works from a number of historic collections, including those of H.R.H. the late Princess Margaret and the late Elizabeth Taylor.
In 2004, Hugh conducted the auction of 88 guitars belonging to Eric Clapton raising a total of $7,438,624. Other interesting and unusual highlights have included Audrey Hepburn’s 'little black dress' from Breakfast at Tiffany's which sold in December 2006 for £467,000 and Daniel Craig’s Aston Martin DB10 from James Bond’s Spectre for £2,434,500 in February 2016.
