BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has put together a comprehensive and foolproof system to ensure the junior hockey World Cup goes without a hitch amid the pandemic. "We are working towards making this international sporting event safe, secure and memorable for the junior hockey players who have come here with big dreams," said state sports secretary, R Vineel Krishna.
"Given the myriad challenges posed due to the pandemic, the event officials led by the organising committee have tried to put together a flawless system of testing and tracking for an incident free event," he said,
On an average, 500 tests are being conducted daily and Covid-19 reports are generated by the Regional Medical Research Centre. All people associated with the World Cup are tested once every 72 hours, including players, officials and hotel staff.
“Testing and tracking and matching records is challenging and officials of the Sports and Youth Services Department are ensuring this process is implemented smoothly in accordance with training and match schedules and as per the convenience. It shouldn’t be an overwhelming experience for the players,” added the secretary.
In all, 12 units have been deployed at different hotels for the purposes of sample collection. As soon as the players arrive at the airport, they are whisked to their respective hotels where a testing team in full PPE gear takes their samples.