CHENNAI: Despite the Ministry of Home Affairs permitting athletes to train with personal coaches, sports facilities across Tamil Nadu remain closed. The state government is yet to give permission to the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu to open sports centres.
The main problem is, most of the facilities are at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and Chennai is still in the red zone. Another problem is, migrant workers returning home are stationed at the stadium. This renders the place unsafe for sports activities during the lockdown and may be even for a while longer.
“Migrant workers are stationed at the stadium. Since it is near the Central station, whoever has tickets/passes and permission to travel are made to assemble at the stadium. Supposing they are travelling at night, they wait there the whole day. They come in batches and numbers sometimes swell up to 1000-1500,” said a source at Nehru Stadium, which has facilities for athletics, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, throw ball, boxing and football.
“We are waiting for orders from SDAT to open facilities for training. Each sport requires a different SOP to be followed for the safety of players. Plus, all facilities must be sanitised and disinfectants must be used to keep them clean. Only after knowing the dates can we make these places ready for players as per protocol,” said a senior coach at a sports facility.
Tennis, hockey and swimming facilities are situated outside the stadium. “We are waiting for instructions from SDAT to open the hockey stadium. Since we are in the red zone, we expect a clearer picture by month end. If everything goes well, may be by early June they (SDAT) will allow us to open the stadium for training,’’ said V Baskaran, president of the Chennai Hockey Association.
Situation at the Velachery swimming facility is complex. “Maintaining a swimming pool and keeping it infection-free is different from other facilities. It involves a lot of procedures and we need clear instructions because most of the time the pool is used by children. Social distancing and wearing masks is another concern,’’ said a noted swimming coach.
Administrators and coaches are hopeful that if the situation improves, facilities should start opening by the first week of June. But, as they say, there is nothing official about it.