Will take each day as it comes

With all sporting events suspended, and most training centres and national camps shut, what are athletes doing with their forced leisure time? Everyday a top athlete will write about her or his experience of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. This is Vinesh Phogat, the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold-winning wrestler, who became the first Indian grappler to secure a Tokyo Olympics berth with a bronze-medal finish at the 2019 World Championships.

I landed at the New Delhi airport last week on March 13 and what I saw around disturbed me greatly. There were masks all around. We athletes are not used to such scenes and I just wanted to get out of the airport as soon as possible.

I was returning from Norway after two-week training and the coronavirus scare was not so high there. But the situation all over the world was changing fast and I decided to advance my return by three days. It is a situation that the world has not seen before, and for the athletes it has come at a time when we are preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I train in a school—Pratap Sports School—and even if the school is shut, the training hall is open for me.

I am taking all precautions. There are only few wrestlers who train there (in the school). I will be sparring only with my sister Priyanka. My coach (Woller Akos from Hungary) was supposed to join me here but had to cancel his ticket because the borders are sealed. I am in touch with him. I have been training under him for a long time. I am also in touch with my nutritionist and physio. So, I am sticking to my training schedule. For me, the Olympics is on.

I do not want the Olympics to be cancelled. If it has to be postponed for twothree months, it is okay, we will manage our workload accordingly. Think about it, there are so many challenging situations we face as an athlete—an injury comes from nowhere and it is all over. We sportspersons are a resilient bunch and we overcome all such difficulties through our positive attitude. This is a new challenge thrown at us and we have to remain positive as much as we can and keep our focus.