Basketball player Akil Mitchell's eye pops out during game
Sport
Basketball player Akil Mitchell's eye pops out during game
A basketball player whose eye popped during a game described how he was "freaked out" by the gruesome injury. New Zealand Breakers' forward Akil Mitchell said he was relieved his sight is apparently unaffected after the scare. Mitchell was on the attack in an Australian NBL game against the Cairns Taipans in Auckland on Thursday night when he was accidentally caught in the eye by the finger of an opposing player. Reliving the incident, he said: "I could still see out of the eye even though it was kinda on the side of my face... it was a weird sensation. "With the palm of my hand I felt my eyeball on the side of my face, which was when I knew this was worse than I (first) thought it was."
With the palm of my hand I felt my eyeball on the side of my face, which was when I knew this was worse than I (first) thought it was
Akil Mitchell
"It kind of makes my eye throb a little just thinking about it, so I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch it." Mitchell told the Herald he could still see from the eye after it had popped out of his socket, saying the sensation was akin to a chameleon, how they can see different directions. The 24-year-old heard a gasp from the crowd and said he "freaked out" believing he would lose sight in the eye and his career would be over. He said while the injury was painful, the worst part was not being able to blink, making his eyeball red and irritated. He said: "Once I got in the ambulance they gave me a little pain medicine and some saline drops in my eye and I felt it slide back into place, which is also a really strange feeling. "It felt so good to be able to blink again, which is insane."
