IOA seeks suggestions from NSFs, SAOs for training restart

NSFs and State Olympic Associations have been asked to collect feedback from the stakeholders on how and when training should resume.

The IOA, made it clear that the resumption of sports will have to be guided by the public health policies laid down by the central and state governments.

Moving forward in its attempts to find a detailed roadmap for the resumption of sporting activities in the country, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has sought inputs from all the National Sports Federations to create a white paper with practical suggestions.

IOA president Narinder Batra on Tuesday sent out a detailed presentation seeking inputs for a blueprint from medical, athlete, social, competitive and economic perspectives.

“Instead of waiting for government directions, the sports community can come together to evolve some norms for resumption of all sport and establish sports administrators as aware, caring, thinking and responsible,” he wrote.

Batra also highlighted some of the major concerns federations would have to consider before resuming activities -- sharing of training gear by athletes, managing social distancing in athletic events, ensuring safety in events like badminton or tennis that use common equipments in competition and high-intensity sports like hockey and squash that see indirect body contact.

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Seeking to make the effort a time-bound exercise, NSFs and State Olympic Associations (SOA) from priority sports have been asked to submit their respective white papers on resumption of sports activities by May 20 while the rest have to submit their inputs by May 31. A comprehensive report collating all the papers would be released in June

The stakeholders for the white paper would include everyone connected with sports in the country -- athletes, coaches and other support personnel, match officials, government authorities, sponsors, media and fans.

Some of the pertinent questions for the stakeholders would include the right time and strategy to resume training – at all levels including school and college sports -- changes in sports on resumption vis-a-vis personal hygiene, social distancing and self-protection and norms for public participation in sports.

Those who have to submit their inputs by May 20 include NSFs for archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, equestrian, golf, hockey, fencing, judo, shooting, rowing, swimming, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting, wrestling and yachting. Among SOAs, Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are among the 16 states who have to submit by May 20.