KOCHI: The long lockdown has led to low turnouts during the first two Indian Grands Prix, the first main athletics event to be held amid the pandemic in the country.
Top athletes are slowly getting back in their strides but some are still away from the track. The Athletics Federation of India, however is not perturbed. Even the third Indian GP on Friday is expected to be the same.
One such top athlete who is missing is Jisna Mathew, a 400m specialist. Training under PT Usha at her academy near Kozhikode, she has not taken part in any of the Grands Prix. She is also going to miss the Federation Cup athletics event meet in Patiala.
"We don't want to take any unnecessary risks at this stage of her career," said Usha.
"Participating in the IGP or even the Fed Cup requires a lot of travel. We will be at a high risk of contracting the virus. At this moment, it doesn't feel like that is a risk worth taking." Usha added that Jisna is improving constantly and that they are considering competing in some meets in Kerala.
"The Calicut University meet is scheduled in April and she could compete there. But we are having training sessions to keep her fit and competition ready. Hopefully, she can compete within the state for the time being."
When asked about qualification for the Tokyo Olympics, the athletics legend suggested that there is no need to panic.
"We have the long term in mind. It's not a case of her securing qualification and just going to Tokyo and giving an average performance. She is still young and there is no need to have a mentality of 'now or never'. We will compete when the time is right and she doesn't have to peak in February for the Olympics, which is in July-August. Olympics itself is a little iffy. So there is no need to rush," she said.
Usha also pointed out that not all the top athletes have returned to action.
"You can see that some of the top athletes are missing for one reason or the other. For us, it is strictly a case of safety and since we don't fully understand this virus, we don't know how it will affect someone, especially an athlete. I just feel April is the ideal time to return. Even though Jisna is not competing, we have a lot of competitions arranged at our school and she is getting better and better."