After 2 months, elite athletes to start training from today

Karam Prakash

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Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 24

India’s elite athletes will resume outdoor training on Monday, ending a two-month period of moderate indoor training that has left them feeling extremely frustrated. However, the focus of the athletes would be on fitness rather than intense performance-oriented training.

Some of India’s leading sportsprsons will be among those who will start training here at the National Institute of Sports (NIS), where the authorities have taken “all coronavirus precautions” to ensure the wellbeing of the athletes.

Elite sportspersons had been allowed to remain at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres, but they had been restricted to their hostel rooms since the last week of March, when the nationwide lockdown was enforced.

Adille Sumariwalla, the Athletics Federation of India president, said that athletes based at NIS Patiala and SAI centres in Bengaluru and Ooty will start “outdoor fitness” training tomorrow.

The sportspersons here will kick off their training under the supervision of a Task Force, which must ensure the implementation of the standard operating procedures (SOP) issued by SAI. Following the SOP, the NIS management has already cordoned off the athletics tracks, weightlifting hall and hostels of the athletes to keep visitors at bay.

Except the coaches, no one would be allowed in the area where the athletes would train. Training will start in phases, beginning with track and field and weightlifting.

Sub-groups

The athletes would train in small sub-groups to avoid crowding. Different time slots have been allotted to the sub-groups. Chief national coaches of athletics and weightlifting have prepared the schedule.