I’VE NOT FACED A FINANCIAL BURDEN
Sports, in general, have been hit because spectators will not be allowed and they are one of the important aspects of sports. Being a global sport, tennis has been aected the most due to the travel restrictions in place. I feel the international circuit could start around Augustseptember, although not fully, and depending on the situation then I will think about ying abroad for tournaments.
I always believe that if India needs more players in the top 100 of the world rankings, then we should have more tournaments of $60,000 and above for women and more Challengerlevel tournaments for men. This will give an opportunity for Indian players to compete without taking the nancial burden and the stress due to it, so then naturally performance will also improve. As far as the WTA is concerned, we have had the WTA Mumbai Open (last held in 201■) which helped me and other Indian girls, but we need more corporate sponsors to come in and have a calendar of women’s events in India.
Personally, as a tennis player, I have not faced a nancial burden as the major expenses of a player are travelling for tournaments and the travel expenses of the coaching sta.
Since there are no tournaments now, that cost is not a burden. But I do feel that I have missed the opportunity to improve my ranking, especially when I was playing well, which would have given me the chance to get into the top 100 and at the same time earn some good prize money.
However, I always try to see that the glass is half full and so I feel this break has given me muchneeded rest and also the time to improve my other skills. I’m learning more about sports and tness, about meditation, yoga, and various other things.
Not only sportspersons, but the coronavirus will have an impact on everyone’s behaviour. People will be more cautious with hygiene, health, saving money, utilising time, spending more time with family and friends. Fitness will be the new mantra of life; yoga and meditation will be more popular among athletes and the general population. I feel COVID19 will have a positive impact on people’s behaviour.
...the major expenses of a player are travelling for tournaments and the travel expenses of the coaching sta. Since there are no tournaments now, that cost is not a burden.
When the ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) Delhi World Cup was initially postponed to May, the Indian team had already begun training in the pretournament camp. We still continued practising for the trials we had and once we were done with those, I came back home in Chandigarh on March 19.
I was happy I was back home and also thought initially that the lockdown announced because of the coronavirus crisis will be in place for only a few days. It will be a good break for me because all the shooters had been facing some tough competitions since last December. However, it became quite predictable shortly after that all competitions at least until July are set to get cancelled.
When at home, I usually don’t go out much except for going to the gym. So maybe, for me, it was easier coping up. Workouts indoors are much more fun because I like my space. I’m actually working on my physical training a lot more, during the mornings and evenings. I push myself to train every day and then also make some of my meals so that I can stick to my diet.
With my training, I didn’t face any problems as such. When I started shooting after a 10day break, I had to make a temporary place where I could shoot. Mine is not exactly a 10m range but it is of 9m and I had to do dry training. Not having a proper range at home is a disadvantage, but lately I have resumed training at a nearby range.
I have a joint family, and it feels really good spending time playing dumb charades, cards and Ludo. I also started learning dierent dance steps from my sister and juggling from my brother. I started painting a lot and then signed up for online courses in sports psychology, exercise physiology and sports nutrition to keep my mind in the zone. It was kind of nding time for things I couldn’t pay much attention to earlier.
I don’t think anything will get aected much once we come out of this. Only the training plan we made, keeping in mind the Tokyo Olympics, will drastically change with major competitions now cancelled. Otherwise, whatever we learned stays with us. It is just about rening our technique and getting better every day. Nothing is lost. The game remains the same. However, now, we don’t even know when the competitions will resume. The main thing would be to follow all the norms – social distancing, wearing masks and sanitising everything – at shooting ranges and gyms. Travelling will be dierent, too. The rest, I guess, I’ll start experiencing once I start venturing out.