Kiren Rijiju: National camps for Olympic-bound athletes to resume from May-end in phased manner

Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said that national camps for Olympic-bound athletes will resume in a phase-wise manner by the end of this month.

"The camps will start in a phase-wise manner. First, we will start training in NIS Patiala and SAI, Bengaluru where athletes are based currently...by the end of this month training is expected to start in Bengaluru and Patiala," Rijiju said at FICCI's webinar titled ''Corona & Sports: The Champions Speak''.

"The camps will be for those sports which have qualified for Olympics or the sports whose Olympic qualification is in future. We will relax things partially by looking at the Olympics. For training in contact sports we have to seek the opinion of health experts," he added.

On March 17, Sports Ministry had postponed all the national camps except for those athletes who are training for the Olympics. The decision was taken as a precautionary measure to contain coronavirus.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday issued an order to extend the ongoing lockdown by two more weeks from May 4 and also allowed the movement of migrant workers, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places, by special trains.

The central government has issued certain relaxations for orange and green zones.

"The relaxation is just partial but we hope to soon have a normal life with a lot of sporting action on the ground. The government should be there to support not to control. We will focus on the grassroots level of the sports post-COVID," the Minister said.

During the session, the Minister further stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a fruitful chat with athletes in the country and also took their suggestions.

"If an athlete who played for India, is not leading a dignified life and is struggling for basic amenities, we will help them," the Minister said.

During this lockdown period, we have held many online coaching sessions, former athletes also joined these sessions, said Rijiju.

(ANI)

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