NEW DELHI: As the second Covid-19 wave sweeps across the country, India's major Olympic sports are all suffering. Quite a few Olympic-bound athletes even tested positive at various Sports Authority of India centres. Even India's travel plans to compete in various international tournaments and competitions at home starting from next month is in jeopardy.
The United Kingdom has put India in the travel red list which means the FIH Hockey Pro League matches between India and Great Britain scheduled for May 8-9 in London stand postponed. "FIH, Hockey India and Great Britain Hockey are monitoring the evolution of the situation in the hope of rearranging these matches at a later date," a FIH release said.
In the case of Indian rowing team, there is uncertainty over participation. Japan is on the verge of a lockdown but the Asian and Oceania Continental Olympic qualifiers is set to begin from May 5. Apart from testing requirements, the lockdown in Delhi has affected visa processing too. "Because of the situation in Delhi, our papers are stuck with the travel agents. Hopefully, by tomorrow (Thursday) we will be able to retrieve it and solve the problem. That is not all as if the visa process is successfully negotiated, we hope flights will remain open," a top rowing official averred. Then there is waiting period for Covid testing results.
Even quarantine norms have changed. "We have to download an app before our arrival apart from the mandatory negative RT-PCR report. They have also asked for extra reports, the kinds of which I don't know whether the labs can process right now keeping in mind that both our teams are in different states which are under lockdown (women's team in Bhopal, men's team in Pune).
The country's worsening condition will compound matters," said an official. "But they can't afford to stop us because it is a qualifying tournament. Hopefully, the event will go ahead as planned without a glitch."
Shooting is one of India's brightest medal prospects and the NRAI's plan is to send a contingent to Croatia to participate in the European Championships in the MQS category following which they are set to travel to Baku. However, with shooters who are part of the camp testing positive, the federation is adopting a wait-and-watch policy as of now.
"We are taking one day at a time. The situation is quite grim and we are monitoring all aspects on an hourly basis. If the condition does not improve, we will have discussions with the government and SAI, and if they advise us against travelling, we will not be sending the team," was how an NRAI top official summed it up.
If travel issues are not enough, quarantine rules might be another issue. The recurve archery team that reached Guatemala for the first World Cup stage after crisscrossing the globe will have less than a month ahead of Stage II in Switzerland. A meeting will take place to assess India and the host nation's quarantine norms. "A quarantine upon arrival in Pune and another one in Lausanne might push the athletes back by a week or 10 days. Not ideal in terms of preparation. Also, keeping in mind frequent travelling with Stage III in June, we will need to look at our planning," said an archery official.
Even in India, competitions are also bearing the brunt. The India Open badminton tournament got postponed indefinitely, while the Asian Boxing Championships in the national capital, considering the situation, looks difficult. No official decision has been taken though.
Wrestling also has the World qualifiers in Sofia, Bulgaria from May 6 but the grapplers are yet to be selected. Before the second wave hit, there were talks of holding a trial but it remains to be seen if that is possible now. "We will have a meeting with the president after April 23 and try to finalise the list of athletes before beginning visa formalities," a federation official revealed.
Table tennis too has taken a hit due travel restrictions. The Olympic paddlers wanted foreign sparring partners from Europe and Asia keeping in mind because of new norms imposed on India, foreign player are reluctant to come.