The spread of the dreaded coronavirus has hit all athletes especially those preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. With all sports activity halted worldwide, plans and preparations of those gearing up for the Olympic Games in Japan have been thrown out of gear. In track and field, there are still a number of Indian athletes hoping to qualify, and will be looking to improve their rankings in the upcoming series of Indian Grand Prix beginning on Friday. For those who have already qualified such as javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh, their training schedule will see a total alteration.
Chopra, specifically, had returned to competing this year after an elbow injury. He was training in Turkey while Shivpal and Annu Rani were in Potchefstroom, South Africa. They all returned to India early Wednesday. While Neeraj was training with German biomechanics expert Klaus Bartonietz and physio Ishaan Marwaha, Shivpal and Annu Rani were accompanied by foreign coach Uwe Hohn.
Speaking to The Week about the athletes who were asked to cut short their training stints abroad, Dr Volker Hermann, High Performance Director of the athletics Federation of India, said, “That was one of the biggest problems, he (Neeraj) was training in South Africa and taking part in competitions. But all Olympic training centres are closed now. Even in South Africa we were stationed at a place which was closed. They were not allowed to use the facilities any longer. No one knows what will happen next week. Of course, we hope for the best but there is an element of high risk. Countries are closing borders. We wanted to avoid a situation where our athletes were in foreign countries not able to come home. So we decided to call them after discussion with coaches to avoid any risk. Right now we are trying to keep them based in Patiala.”
Dr Hermann gave details on the change in plans for the elite athletes saying all of them would be training which would last for 8-10 weeks. “The good thing is in Patiala, we have all top athletes together at one point. They are in high level of training already. We hope that will be enough to last at least another 8-10 weeks after which, hopefully, the competitions will happen again. But this will depend on IOC which decided to take a decision in May. Until then, just continue with training and internal competitions which will be like trial of trials.”
On how frustrating it will be for Neeraj to alter his training and competition plans in the lead up to Tokyo 2020 in July, Dr Herrmann said, “All our athletes are aware of the situation. Everybody understands their health takes more important than the Olympic Games. We have to see what is best for country and how best to avoid this virus.”
The Indian Grand Prix, marking the start of competitive season in athletics at home, is unlikely to take place now with the Union sports ministry issuing an advisory on Thursday that no sports events will be held until April 15. Top Indian athletes in national camps were set to compete in the IGP which was to take place on March 20 in Patiala. Dr Herrmann acknowledged that with scaled-down competitions involving no foreign participants and between national campers only due to COVID-19 fears, it was more of a competition between teammates. “Of course, it is different. It is more like an intensive training session. Competing against your own teammates or training partners, the anxiety levels and intensity are not too high, but this is all we can do at the moment.”
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports directive stated “...in view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, all sports organisations and their affiliate units are advised against holding any sports events including competition or selection trials till 15 April, 2020.”
