CHENNAI: After a lull, Thursday witnessed multiple sportspersons testing positive for the coronavirus. Influential French midfielder Paul Pogba, multiple Chelsea players had all contracted the virus.
Closer home too, there was a confirmation — shuttler Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, in an Instagram post, said he was positive. “ (...) I don’t notice any symptoms. I am following govt protocols & prescriptions and home quarantined myself.” Of course, as far as Indians are concerned, Satwik is the latest in a long line to have tested positive.
Keeping in mind that getting back to play for athletes is a complicated affair — there is no study to find out what the coronavirus does to athletes who have tested positive — caution is going to be the byword.
Or at least that’s what Ashok Ahuja, former head of sports medicine at the Sports Authority of India (SAI), urges.
“The return to play is a sensitive issue and it needs to be addressed properly,” he tells this daily. He says an athlete who has tested positive shouldn’t engage in strenuous activity straight away.
“It should be more gradual, there should be constant monitoring of his/her vitals, especially oxygen saturation level and whether the level drops whenever there is a constant physical activity.”
While experts in multiple countries have said that even healthy individuals could suffer from reduced lung capacity as a result of the condition, they do not yet know if it affects sportspersons.
Push the button too early and it increases the risk of major complications. What are some of those? “Some of the severe complications are myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), pulmonary fibrosis (scarring of lung tissue), strokes and clots.”
Considering lung capacity is one of the most crucial markers for an athlete to be successful or not, significant damage to the lungs is akin to a career-ender. One of the hockey players, Surender Kumar, who tested positive, in fact had to be readmitted to hospital after developing a blood clot in his arm.
Keeping in mind all of these possibilities, Ahuja advocates for constant testing of cardiac status before going on to a more intensive exercise plan. This is a lengthy process and can take about two weeks to a month.
The most ideal scenario for all elite athletes is to train in secure bio bubbles, thus completely eliminating the chance of the virus to hit training centres. Ahuja bats for an extensive bio bubble, including for cooks and drivers.
“Not only players and support staff but even the cooks, waiters, laundry people... whoever is coming into contact they also have to be secure. No other person can be allowed into that area.”