Tough time for India’s Olympic hopefuls
With many countries imposing travel restrictions on India to contain COVID-19, we track how it may have an impact on Indian athletes preparing for the Tokyo Olympics.
Postponement of events hit Saina, Srikanth hard Hit by the pandemic, the world population is ghting a battle for survival. Economic growth has taken a beating across the globe. Employment issues have cropped up like never before. Life and livelihood continue to suer.
In these challenging times, sporting activities are in the background. Though there have been some exceptions, like football, golf, motorsports, etc., to name a few, overall the situation is far from normal.
The Olympic Games in Tokyo, pushed back by a year to 2021, continues to be under a cloud of uncertainty. Though the International Olympic Committee has been consistent in its stand of going ahead with the
Games with curbs, there has been massive disapproval of the decision within Japan.
The participating nations, in varying degrees, are preparing their athletes for the Games. Several disciplines have completed their qualication process while some others are facing major hurdles.
Badminton is one of the disciplines yet to complete the qualication process. The Badminton World Federation was the rst sports body in 2020 to announce an elaborate schedule of events, but cancelled them due to the unrelenting pandemic. It announced a shortened schedule at the end of 2020 and organised a few events in a secure environment in the early part of 2021 in Thailand and Switzerland. It managed to complete the All England Championships before the second wave of the pandemic swept through several nations.
From an Indian perspective, the cancellation of the India Open and the Malaysia Open in quick succession has been the biggest jolt. Now with just one event — the Singapore Open — remaining before the nal list of qualied players is arrived at, India is unlikely to add to the names of P. V. Sindhu, B. Sai Praneeth and the men’s duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwik Rankireddy.
Saina Nehwal and K. Srikanth, two former world No. 1 players in their respective sections, are set to miss out. Since there are 3■ players each in the singles competition, a maximum of two players from a nation are allowed, provided they are in the top16 bracket of the race to Tokyo rankings.
Sindhu and Praneeth, ranked 7th and 13th in these rankings, have virtually made the cut. Srikanth and Saina, placed 20th and 22nd, have reasons to feel denied a rightful crack at qualication in the face of cancellation of qualication tournaments.
As things stand, the Singapore Open is the only event left for these players to break into the top16 rankings and join their compatriots. However, this looks improbable since not enough points are at stake for Saina to make the grade. She needs at least 7,000 points from the Singapore Open to overtake some of the players whereas the title carries only 6,000 points.
Srikanth, too, faces a similar situation. Currently, he has 42,9■9 points as against 16thplaced Shesar Hiren Rhustavito’s tally of 4■,970 points. Now Srikanth needs to catch up with the Indonesian by doing the needful in the Singapore Open. Even that
will not be enough if Vietnam’s Lee Chuek Yiu — presently placed 1■th — improves his position. Since Japan and Denmark already have two or more players in the top16, the performances of Kenta Nishmoto (17th) and Jan O Jorgensen (19) do not aect Srikanth. Though the ocial word is awaited, Saina and Srikanth are well aware that their chances of making it to Tokyo are over, unless there is a change in rules before the qualication window closes on June 15.
“Though four of our players have already qualied, there are few more including Saina and Srikanth who can still make it. I have reached out to BWF secretary Thomas Lund asking for clarity on the future course of action,” was how Badminton Association of India secretary Ajay Singhania reacted to the present scenario after the cancellation of the Malaysian Open.
For the Singapore Open, scheduled from June 16, the country’s rules for those travelling from India make it mandatory to either be in quarantine in a country other than India for 14 days before being allowed to enter Singapore.
The other alternative is the players have to be in quarantine for 21 days after entering Singapore. The BAI is exploring all means to let the players be part of the eld in the Singapore Open even if it means reaching
Singapore via some other country following a 14day quarantine.
The assurance from Singhania was in place. “We will do whatever best possible can be done to nd a better way out so that the shuttlers get the chance to secure the Olympic berths, if there is any scope and opportunity.”
Though Srikanth can still hope to play another Olympic Games, it seems curtains for Saina in the biggest sporting arena. Saina’s career, glittering for the better part of the last 15 years, is fast losing some of its sheen in recent times. Since January 2019, when she won the Indonesia Masters, she has not reached the seminals in 19 appearances. The breakup reects just ve quarternals and 12 rstround exits! No wonder Saina is out of the reckoning for a place in the eld for Tokyo.
A hip injury suered during the recent All England is the latest of the worries for Saina. Clearly, her battered body cannot take the workload of the past.
When it comes to being medal prospects, it would be unfair to expect Praneeth and Shettyreddy to make it to the podium.
Even Sindhu’s recent form does not oer much hope. For instance, her seminal appearance at the All England Championships was certainly encouraging, but overall she
has been inconsistent since oncourt action resumed in January in Bangkok.
Going by the world champion’s reputation of playing big events better, one hopes she is ready to do one better than what she managed in Rio in 2016.
Shooting team takes charter flight for Olympic preparation
It is already nine years since Vijay Kumar and Gagan Narang won silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the London Olympics. After the high of Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal in the air rie in Beijing in 200■, and the breakthrough performance of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore’s silver in Athens in 2004, the Olympic medal chain was broken in Rio in 2016, when India red a blank.
Working with quiet resolve and overwhelming support from the government, Indian shooting had become a dominant force as it showed by topping the medals table in the four World Cups and the World Cup Finals in 2019.
The pandemic did not dampen spirits and Indian shooting continued to assert itself by winning 30 medals, including 15 gold, out of the overall ■2 medals on oer at the World Cup at home in Delhi in March.
With the raging pandemic spreading its tentacles all around the country, there was a big question mark over the nal preparation for the Indian team for the Tokyo Games in July.
Dicult situations call for dierent measures, and the National Rie Association of India (NRAI) came up with the master stroke of chartering a ight and sending the Indian team, of 13 rie and pistol shooters, to train in Zagreb, Croatia, and also help it compete in the European Championships.
The International Sport Shooting Federation (ISSF) announced that Osijek, the venue for the European championship in May, would also host a World Cup for rie, pistol and shotgun from June 22 to July 3.
So, from the idea of having a long camp, perhaps at Delhi’s Dr Karni Singh Range in tough weather conditions, the Indian team could get into the best possible nal swing in Europe prior to the Olympics.
The NRAI also swiftly arranged vaccination for the shooters, coaches and support sta at their hotel in the National Capital Region near the shooting range to further facilitate a precaution against the virus.
Many shooters like Anjum Moudgil, Abhishek Verma and Apurvi Chandela had already taken their rst shot of the vaccine, like the coaches Deepali Deshpande and Suma Shirur.
Even though one month had elapsed making the training plan after the Delhi World Cup, when the Olympicsbound shooters were mostly restricted to home training, the NRAI was able to plan quick to ensure the shooters compete as “guests” at the European Championships after one week of quarantine in Croatia.
“The conditions are much better in Croatia. I have already spent a year with the family. So, I can spend three months away from home, focusing on the Olympic preparation,” said World Championships silver medallist Anjum Moudgil, who will be competing in the women’s rie 3positions and the mixed air rie events in Tokyo.
Not only the national coaches and foreign coaches, but also the personal coaches like Deepak Kumar Dubey, Neha Chavan and Rakesh Manpat were drafted into the squad for Europe, so that the team could have its best preparation.
Of course, pistol coaches Samaresh Jung, Jaspal Rana and Ronak Pandit were unable to detach themselves from home and families for such a long period, and thus only two pistol coaches, Pavel Smirnov and Ved Prakash Pilaniya, could accompany the seven shooters.
“I have been training with Jaspal sir. I will continue to get guidance from him, through video calls, etc.,” said twotime World Cup gold medallist in air pistol Abhishek Verma.
With four physiotherapists and two physical trainers, apart from a battery of nine coaches, the shooting squad had adequate expertise to tune the shooters for their best performance in the Games.
There was a discordant note as Apurvi returned a positive test for coronavirus, but it was claried that postvaccination on April 2■, it was normal and that she would take another test soon and join the team.
Among the two shotgun marksmen with Olympic entry, the Asian champion in skeet, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, had already been training in Italy for about a month after the World Cup in Delhi. Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan had lost his father and thus was unable to train for about a fort
night. He was also scheduled to train in Italy, even if he misses the World Cup in Lonato, in the second week of May.
Quite signicantly, the shotgun shooters have been able to compete in three World Cups, before the last one in Osijek in 2021, while the rie and pistol shooters could get only the Delhi World Cup, as two more were cancelled.
It was thus a great initiative by the ISSF to spring one last World Cup for rie, pistol and shotgun, to get the shooters in their best competitive shape for the Tokyo Olympics.
While the rest of the sporting disciplines were struggling to nd a ray of hope with cancelled events, ight restrictions in different countries, Indian shooting was able to get the jigsaw puzzle right, for best preparation, to reach the Land of the Rising Sun, for the Olympics.
Hockey players remain motivated
The Indian men’s hockey team restarted its international assignments after more than a year with a preparatory tour in
Europe in February and an extended tour of Argentina for the Pro League games last month. The women went to Argentina and Germany.
But their competitive international assignments are eectively over with both teams likely to stay put at the SAI Centre right till the Tokyo Olympics. While the men’s upcoming FIH Hockey Pro League away matches against Spain and Germany, scheduled on May 1516 and May 2223, respectively, have been ocially postponed due to the Covidinduced travel restrictions, home matches against New Zealand on May 2930 are also o as per the FIH website.
“We are extremely disappointed that we can’t travel for the FIH Pro League matches due to the ensuing conditions due to Covid19. However, this has not aected our focus or determination to improve. The players remain as motivated in their pursuit to do well at the Olympic Games,” men’s chief coach Graham Reid told Sportstar.
If these ties are not rescheduled before
Tokyo, which looks highly unlikely at the moment given the massive surge in Covid cases in the country, the men are likely to be conned to training at home till their departure for Tokyo. Ocials said Hockey India is in touch with the FIH to work out alternative dates for the Pro League games before the Olympics. That, though, would depend on how the Covid situation develops.
The women are no better. With no Pro League for them, there were plans to travel to the Netherlands for practice matches and training, but that too seems o and is not listed any more on Hockey India’s website. The halfadozen positive cases in the team recently haven’t helped. Those aected, however, remained asymptomatic and have recovered well before resuming training. Last year, seven from the men’s team had tested positive.
Women’s coach Sjoerd Marijne, though, remains hopeful the team will be able to travel to Netherlands for the planned preparatory tour although there is no conrmation yet. More than 30 countries have paused ights from India as a consequence of the second wave of the pandemic, Germany and the Netherlands among them.
Hockey India, however, has ruled out any break for the players to go home till the Olympics, unwilling to take any risk with the health of the players.
Anxious athletes and an uncertain future
They had packed their bags and were ready, waiting for their ight from Chandigarh to Mumbai and from there to Amsterdam. But with the Netherlands banning all ights from India, the Indian relay team members who were supposed to go to the World Relays at Silesia in Poland were left with very few options.
“I think we will be going but I don’t know the ight details,” said Muhammed Anas, the national record holder in the 400m, that night.
Frantic calls were made, desperate messages and emails sent too. But with very little time left, the Indians were left stranded.
“Only one day before, we got the news. They were supposed to leave on April 27th night and on the 26th night the travel ban happened. We were talking to the consulate, talking to World Athletics, talking to Poland, the consulate in Amsterdam, the consulate in Germany...can they go via Frankfurt, can they go via Dubai, can they go via Doha, can they go via Kuwait, can they go via Sri Lanka? Everywhere we tried,” Adille Sumariwalla, the president of the Athletics Federation of India, told Sportstar.
“For some 4■ hours, everybody at my level was making calls, half the calls nobody was picking up, half the emails nobody was replying to.”
With that, the Indian women’s 4x100m relay team’s hopes of making the cut for the Tokyo Olympics virtually disappeared. The sprint relay team included top names like Hima Das and Dutee Chand. And the men’s 4x400m team was also looking to improve its chances of going to Tokyo through the world ranking route by clocking a good timing. Currently, India has only one conrmed spot — in the mixed 4x400m — for the Oympics in the relays.
Shotputter Tajinderpal Singh Toor is another athlete who is desperately searching for competitions to qualify for Tokyo. He has a personal best of 20.92m and the Olympic qualication standard of 21.10s is within his reach, but with ights to many countries banned because of India's rising COVID19 cases, he is unable to travel for meets abroad.
Tajinderpal was denied a visa to y to Iran for a competition in early April because of the worrying coronavirus situation in India.
Will the ight suspension hurt our athletes' chances of qualifying since the June 29 deadline of making the cut for Tokyo is not very far?
“I don't have an answer to that. The important question is how safe is my athlete,” said Sumariwalla.
“So what are the competitions I can give them to qualify? We have the GP, we have the (interstate) national championship. If things are better, if it opens up, we will send them to Europe for competitions. And by June, if it doesn’t open up, then end of June we will have our Grand Prix and national championship.
“We will invite some foreign teams to come (for the relays). We are working on various permutations and combinations. But I can’t make any comment just now because all the goalposts are moving.”
Even athletes who have qualied are anxious.
Javelin throwers Neeraj Chopra and Shivpal Singh, who have already qualied for Tokyo, along with Annu Rani, who should make the Tokyo cut based on her
We will invite some foreign teams to come (for the relays). We are working on various permutations and combinations. But I can’t make any comment just now because all the goalposts are moving. — Adille Sumariwalla, the president of the Athletics Federation of India.
world ranking, were supposed to travel to Turkey along with the quartermilers for training and competitions in April. But the trip to Turkey had to be suspended as the athletes would have had to undergo a 14day quarantine on arrival there. And Hima Das, the world under20 400m champion, and Dutee Chand, the World University Games 100m gold medallist, are also hunting for competitions to make the cut for Tokyo in the 100 and 200m. A few others, who have made stunning progress this season, are also anxiously waiting for competitions to resume in the country in the hope of
making the Tokyo cut.
A long break in training, with the Olympics less than three months away, would have played havoc with their preparations for Tokyo.
With Germany’s 2017 world champion and current world leader Johannes Vetter, hitting a massive 91.50m in a competition at home in Oenburg recently, Chopra must be hungry to try out against some big names and gain experience and condence before going to Tokyo. But that looks very dicult under the current situation.
Like the javelin throwers, long jumper M. Sreeshankar was also planning to go abroad for training and competition.
“We were planning to go to France and applied for visas. We don’t know what stage the process is in now. And since our teams could not go for the Relay Worlds, we know there will be a problem for our travel too,” said former international S. Murali, Sreeshankar’s father who is also his coach.
“It will be super if we can get some three to four good competitions after June 15, even if it is a good domestic competition, it will be good. The chances of going abroad are very slim now, and it is risky too. But the biggest worry is the long quarantine,” explained Sreeshankar, who had ve jumps over eight metres and a best of ■.26m in the Federation Cup in March which helped him to qualify for the Olympics.
“If countries insist on a 14day quarantine, it will aect our health badly and training is very crucial now since we are close to the Olympics. If they remove the restrictions, I would denitely like to compete outside,” said the national record holder, who took his rst dose of COVID vaccine recently.
“We are certainly at a big disadvantage. In Europe and everywhere, competitions are going on. The US Olympic trials will be held in June. But right now, it is safe for us to train at home (at Palakkad in Kerala).”
And with the coronavirus situation only getting worse each day, Sreeshankar and his dad feel that they could be going to Tokyo straight from India without competing in any foreign meets.
Meanwhile, the focus is now on the Olympic probables at the national camps. “We have had our COVID vaccine recently and we are training with the Olympics in mind,” said Anas from Patiala.
Impact of young boxers
Boxing is one of the disciplines which has borne the brunt of international travel restrictions due to the rapid increase in COVID19 cases in India.
The rst taste of such restrictions and ight cancellation impacted the Indian youth boxers’ travel to Montenegro for the Adriatic Pearl tournament in March.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) had to book the tickets several times and arrange visas accordingly before the young boxers took a circuitous route to reach Montenegro just in time.
Indian boxing received the biggest blow when it lost the Asian boxing championships, which would have been an ideal competition for the home boxers in the runup to the Tokyo Olympics.
As the country experienced a crisis in April due to sharp increase in COVID positive cases, the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) — which had earlier postponed the event due to the pandemic — shifted the Asian championships from Delhi to Dubai on April 27.
The continental event was scheduled to happen at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in Delhi from May 21 to 31.
With the home advantage gone, the Indian boxers may have to be prepared to follow the COVID protocols in the UAE prior to the competition.
WFI ocials work overtime
The international travel issues had its impact on the wrestlers as well. A 12member Indian wrestling squad was supposed to y to Soa, Bulgaria, via Amsterdam to participate in the World Olympic Games Qualier (from May 6 to 9) on April 27.
However, they had to go through an anxious 4■ hours as the Netherlands reportedly imposed a travel ban on Indians ying out of that country, resulting in the cancellation of tickets.
Wrestling Federation of India ocials worked overtime to get clearance from the Dutch government as well as the France government before the wrestlers nally boarded a ight to Soa via Paris on April 29 night.
No major issue for weightlifting
The Indian weightlifters did not have any major issue related to international travel restrictions.
Ace lifter Mirabai Chanu’s request to the government to let her train in the USA to treat a shoulder issue took some time to get approval amid rising COVID cases. The government ocials’ proactive approach
As the country experienced a crisis in April due to sharp increase in COVID positive cases, the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) — which had earlier postponed the event due to the pandemic — shifted the Asian championships from Delhi to Dubai.
nally helped the lifter travel to the USA for her treatment and training.
AAI pulls team out of World Cup Stage2
The Indian archers had a tough time as there was some uncertainty surrounding their trip to Guatemala City to take part in the World Cup Stage1 in April.
After the completion of the event, the archers waited for a day in Guatemala City due to cancellation of their ight. On their way back, they spent 23 hours in Paris in order to catch a ight back to India.
Learning from the experience, the Archery Association of India (AAI) pulled the team out from the second stage of the World Cup scheduled to be held in Lausanne in midmay. Even though the visa issue is said to be the primary reason for the cancellation of the tour, it is learnt that uncertainty over international ights due to rising COVID cases also made the AAI take such a decision.
Bhavani Devi continues training
C. A. Bhavani Devi, the rstever fencer to qualify for the Olympics, is training in Italy ahead of the Tokyo Games. Bhavani is training a the Italian port city of Livorno with her coach Nicola Zanotti. The 27yearold had left for Italy in the last week of March and will be training alongside the Italian national team as there are no major competitions in the pipeline.
Sailors on curse
India has four sailors who have qualied for the Tokyo Olympics — Vishnu Saravanan (laser standard), Nethra Kumanan (laser radial), KC Ganapathy and Varun Thakkar (ski 49er). Vishnu has left the country to train with his coach in Malta. He will also train in Vilamoura, Portugal, for a fortnight and compete in the Medemblik Regatta in the Netherlands. The 23yearold Nethra, who became the rst Indian woman sailor to seal an Olympic berth, will train in Gran Canaria for close to a month and then join Vishnu to compete in the Medemblik Regatta. Following this, she will train and compete in Hungary in the leadup to the Games.
The 49er duo of Ganapathy and Varun are scheduled to train in Cascais, Portugal for four weeks and then participate in the Medemblik Regatta in the rst week of June.
Swimming has been the biggest suerer
Swimming Federation of India executive director Virendra Nanavati said the lock
down and ban on swimming pools meant India’s preparation for the Tokyo Olympics was already severely hit. Six Indians — Srihari Nataraj (100m backstroke, Sajan Prakash (200m buttery), Advait Page (■00m freestyle), Virdhawal Khade (50m freestyle), Aryan Makhija (■00m freestyle) and Kushagara Rawat (400m, ■00m and 1500m freestyle — had secured the Bstandard timings before the pandemicenforced restrictions came into force last year.
Swimmers who have attained the ‘B’ standard can compete in Tokyo only if the total quota is not lled at the end of the qualication period on June 27.
The Indian swimmers competed in their rst international meet in over a year at the Uzbekistan Open Swimming Championships last month. Despite limited avenues to prepare, Indians fared well, winning 29 medals (1■ gold, seven silver and four bronze) in the meet.
Srihari Nataraj broke the national record twice in the 100m backstroke and came close to securing the A qualication mark. He fell short by just 0.22s.
But with most countries now banning commercial ight operations from India to contain COVID19, opportunities have dwindled further for Srihari Nataraj.
The SFI had plans to host a FINAACcredited competition in June to give the Indians an opportunity to secure the Acut, but the plan has been shelved due to Covid19 surge in the country.
The federation is now trying to get the swimmers to compete in at least two or three international meets before the qualication cycle ends on June 27 — the Mare Nostrum Swim series in Monaco and France, and the nal qualication meet in Italy in the third week of June.
Virendra Nanavati is not very hopeful. The Indians had to cancel a trip to South Africa due to visa restrictions.
“We are hoping they get at least one more opportunity to compete, but even if they grant visas and allow the swimmers to y, they will be asked to quarantine without access to pools and that is not a viable option before a competition,” the SFI executive director said.
The last option for the SFI is to send one swimmer through the Universality places quota.