CHENNAI: With the Asian 20km Race Walking Championships, scheduled for March 15, getting cancelled due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the 13-member Indian team that was scheduled to go to Nomi City (Japan) has shifted its focus to the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships, in Belarus on May 2.This is the third major athletics event to be cancelled or postponed due to the virus. World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China (March 13 to 15) was postponed to next March while the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships (February 12-13) in Hangzhou, China, was cancelled.
Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) high-performance director Volker Herrmann had been to the SAI centre in Bengaluru to give a pep talk to the walkers. But the cancellation has hurt their Olympic qualifying hopes. “We were optimistic for another three or four athletes to qualify for Tokyo. Priyanka Goswami was really close at the nationals in Ranchi. Sandeep Kumar and two other boys were looking good as well. We already checked for other opportunities. But right now, the situation does not look good,” Hermann told this daily.
Every nation can field up to three walkers in the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships and can send up to five. “Some of the elite walkers from the world will be a part. It will very difficult for us. This will be the last opportunity to qualify.” Many Indian athletes were scheduled for training stints abroad. All of that has to be rechecked now and a decision will be taken. “We were planning to send the walkers to Europe for a training camp. We wanted to combine a training camp along with the World Team Championships. But now, we have to check if it is possible.”
The sports ministry on Monday had sent an advisory to all national federations informing them that all athletes who are returning from training stints abroad will have to undergo tests and be screened airports. Currently, India’s javelin throwers, including Neeraj Chopra, are training in Turkey and South Africa. Discus thrower Seema Punia is the other athlete training outside India (Russia). The famed quartermilers will be leaving to Antalya, Turkey, in mid April and will also head to the Czech Republic after that. While the plan is on, for the time being, Hermann told that there might be changes if the virus situation becomes worse.