Athletics, boxing draw up plans to resume training

NEW DELHI: The core group of athletes stuck at Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres at Patiala and Bengaluru since March 25 due to the nationwide lockdown will resume outdoor training on Monday, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said.

Javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh—both have qualified for the Olympics—are in Patiala, besides the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay team and Hima Das, who has switched from 400m to 200m.

“The athletes will start with general fitness workouts for 10 days.

The basic concept is to go out and walk and jog. It will be first phase of transition from indoors,” AFI president Adille Sumariwalla said on Saturday.

“The coaches will monitor each individual and after 10 days will plan the next phase of training. We don’t want to rush. The athletes have been indoors for nearly eight weeks. Rushing back to hard training doesn’t make sense.”

Shivpal is excited. “It’s a huge relief to know we can go out and play,” he said. Training will be in batches in the morning (6 to 9am) and evening (5 to 8pm).

The five-member race walking team, including KT Irfan—he has qualified for Tokyo—and the Asian Games 1500m champion Jinson Johnson are among those in SAI, Bengaluru.

Athletes in SAI campuses must follow the sports ministry’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), maintain social distancing and can’t use the gym. “Free hand exercises will be the norm in the first 10 days. They will use the grassy stretch and synthetic track but will not interact with SAI officials or visit the office area in the campus,” he said.

AFI has decided not to take part in international meets this year. The rescheduled domestic circuit will start in mid-September.