New Delhi, India, May 11, 2020: Sport in India is set to resume soon with top officials such as Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra making positive moves to ensure sport can make a safe comeback from the nationwide lockdown in place.
The Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sport said premier sports centres where Olympic-bound athletes trained would open by the end of this month.
Plans are in place to start outdoor training in premier centres in India later this month with Rijiju pointing out that the government had to tread a careful path to ensure athletes remained free from COVID-19.
Meanwhile the Indian Olympic Association has launched a questionnaire aimed at devising a strategy for the potential resumption of sport in the country.
The questionnaire initiated by Batra will aim to find out the way forward and determine how athletes can resume sporting activities, including training and competition.
Rijiju revealed the sports ministry was devising a plan for a phased resumption of national camps for Olympic-bound athletes, starting with the athletes based at Patiala and Bengaluru. Other athletes might have to wait till at least September.
“A roadmap is being prepared. If something happens to top athletes it will be a setback so we are careful and that’s why there are no positive cases of coronavirus for our athletes till now. These athletes are the pride of our country and so we can’t risk anything,” Rijiju pointed out.
The coronavirus-forced nationwide lockdown, which has been extended until May 17, forced the sports ministry to delay the resumption of the training camps at Sports Authority of India centres.
The Indian Olympic Association, meanwhile, will create a white paper on the resumption of sport following the feedback to its questionnaire by May 20. A more comprehensive version is expected to be published in June.
Feedback is being sought on the right time and strategy to resume training and competitions; what precautions might be necessary when resuming sport; views on spectators attending events; and how local level sporting activity can resume.