CHENNAI: It is too early for wrestlers and judokas to start training at national camps, given that their disciplines are contact sports. In the standard operating procedures issued by Sports Authority of India (SAI), there are guidelines for resumption of these sports. Some seem impractical for elite athletes.
Given the situation, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Judo Federation of India (JFI) and SAI are targetting beginners with an e-learning programme called e-Pathshala, which was launched on Monday. This has around 1,000 grassroots-level athletes and coaches in each discipline. “In the first phase, we will teach basics of wrestling to aspirants between 8 to 12. NIS Patiala chief wrestling coach OP Yadav and two assistant coaches taught them warm-up exercises and their importance on Monday. They will be taught basic moves on Tuesday,” a coach who attended the session told this daily.
While the first phase will last four days, the next is for a developmental squad. “We don’t need basic equipment like mats and dummies for the beginners, but for the developmental squad, we will use them. Coaches can demonstrate moves by using dummies in the next phase,” added the coach. JFI’s online class will be held for 15 days. “We cannot resume the national camp due to social distancing norms and other difficulties. This programme will be helpful for beginners. We can start online classes for elite athletes once we are done with this,” said Man Mohan Jaiswal, JFI’s secretary-general.“Uchikomi, the repeated practice of a throwing motion, is among the few moves that can be practised with online guidance. Bands can be used for it,” added Jaiswal.
Module for archers
Sports minister Kiren Rijiju inaugurated the e-Pathshala programme for young archers at a webinar. It was attended by archery coaches and experts. The event will cover 21 disciplines including wrestling, judo and archery. Online classes will be seen by a committee of sports scientists, high-performance directors and high-performance managers.