IOA top two spar on training track TOKYO 2021 IS A CHALLENGE: IOC OFFICIAL
New Delhi, May 22: Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary general Rajeev Mehta on Friday warned against rushing athletes into training amid the rising Covid19 cases, saying a wrong move at this point can have a bearing on their Olympics preparation.
Mehta expressed his vehement opposition after the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Thursday released the Sports Ministry-approved SOP for athletes to follow while training amid the pandemic. “God forbid by any chance if an athlete tests positive who will be responsible for that? The unfortunate athlete will suffer and it may affect his or her Olympic preparation,” Mehta said.
He said the athletes should not be be forced the resume training.
The issue of resumption has again brought to the fore the growing fissure within the country’s top sports body, with IOA president Narinder Batra deciding to take over much of the secretary general’s responsibilities in what appeared to be an attempt to sideline his deputy.
In a mail to Mehta, Batra said, “I have decided to take over/divide much of your workload and will be doing the needful in days to come and since I am Delhi based and few other people who are regularly coming to Delhi will now have to share the divided responsibilities/burden.
“Your very important advice will always be sought. By doing the above you will be able to spend more quality time with your family in Nainital and also attend to your business which also is in Uttrakhand.”
In his reply, Mehta wrote, “I also thank you for appreciating that I've been working tirelessly for the IOA. My family appreciates my commitment and is supportive of my endeavours and will like to see me doing more for sports by stationing myself in Delhi and discharging my responsibilities as
Sydney, May 22: A senior Olympics official has warned that holding the postponed Tokyo Games next year faces “real problems”, with even a vaccine unlikely to stave off the threat of the Coronavirus.
John Coates, the International Olympic Committee’s pointman for Tokyo 2020, indicated that officials would start deciding in October if and how the pandemic-hit Games could go ahead in July
2021.
“We can’t postpone it again and we have to assume that there won’t be a vaccine or, if there is a vaccine, it won’t be sufficient to share around the world,” he told a roundtable organised by an Australian media giant.
Without the safety net of a widely available vaccine, there could be enormous challenges in screening tens of thousands of people from all corners of the world, he said.
“We’ve got real problems because we’ve got athletes having to come from 206 different nations,” said Coates.
“We’ve got 11,000 athletes coming, 5,000 technical officials and coaches,
20,000 media, we’ve got
4,000 working on the organising committee there at the moment, there will be 60,000 volunteers coming. There’s a lot of people,” he said. —
Secretary-General of IOA.”
Mehta added that Batra “should have contested as Secretary-General of IOA” if he is so willing to take over his responsibilities.
“If you had such desires of doing day to day affairs, I would have stepped down from office in 2017 and you should have contested as Secretary-General of IOA,” Mehta added.