Indian national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand has suggested that shorter, state-level competitions can be conducted to make up for the loss of national-level competitions.
“It may not be possible to organise massive national or state level tournaments like we used to do in pre-Covid days due to social distancing norms,” said Gopichand in a webinar titled Sports, Fitness, Lockdown - What is the way forward?, according to IANS.
“But we can surely look at a number of leagues in each sport among top players, as per their levels,” he added.
Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla revealed that the association has been planning on similar lines to ensure Olympic-bound athletes remain in top condition.
“Our elite athletes have been in camps since June and will go into deep training from October. We have just chalked out our detailed programme calendar and we are hoping to see serious competition from January onwards,” Sumariwalla said.
Elite level sports in India have been shut since the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in March. Although training has now been permitted, various athletes have found it difficult to keep themselves in prime conditions to compete.
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