Athletes’ overall health, not just securing them from the outbreak of COVID-19, must always be kept in mind when planning the resumption of competitive sport. It becomes obvious that when it advocates the resumption of competition inside two months, the only concern of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is reducing the chances of athletes contracting the Corona virus.
It is alright to aspire to resume competition by the end of August, but it seems rather impractical at the moment. The single biggest reason is that the country’s best sportspersons in all disciplines, barring athletics and weightlifting, have been unable to train for weeks together. And to ask them to perform in competitive environments so soon would be to place a massive burden on them.
Indeed, to expect sportspersons in 14 disciplines (and more) to be in competitive shape in August is to expose them to injury. After all, National camps in a number of disciplines were wound up during lockdown and have not resumed. And development athletes in athletics and weightlifting were asked to quit the National camps this summer.
Truth to tell, I would love to see competitive sport resume at the earliest. If nothing else, it can help improve my bottom-line. But it does not mean that I would want the leading athletes and the younger ones to be asked to risk injury by competing so soon after such a long lay-off during which they would have had no skill-related activity.
It would also be wishful thinking to assume that athletes would be able to get back to prime form – anything less may not make for attractive television. They must be given the time to train in a phased manner before they are asked to enter competition. It is only fair that India’s athletes, whose eyes are set on international events, work backwards after their international calendar is drawn up.
There can be no doubt that the entire sports ecosystem, like all walks of society, is bearing the brunt of the economic impact caused by the outbreak of COVID-19. But, with no knowing if the virus has peaked yet in India, it would be unfair to ask the athletes to take risks. Novak Djokovic’s failed experiment with resumption of sport cannot be ignored.
The other striking thing was the call to NSFs to speak with league managers. Of the 14 NSFs whose officials the Minister met on Tuesday, only six (Badminton, Boxing, Football, Hockey, Table Tennis and Wrestling) have had leagues. There are no known leagues in sport like Archery, Athletics, Cycling, Fencing, Judo, Shooting, Swimming, Weightlifting.
National Sports Federations will find it tough to conceive viable league options, let alone execute them this year. It is not amusing that Swimming Federation of India which has been waiting to hear about resumption of its sport, weeks after working on a Standard Operating Procedure, was part of a group which was told to speak with league managers.
While Hockey India League has not been held since 2017, it is unthinkable that contact sport like boxing and wrestling will resume activity in the immediate future. That leaves badminton, football and table tennis as sports that can run leagues. Will these Federations want to think of conducting downscaled versions of their league?
Before that question can be answered, it would be appropriate to ask a few more questions. Will the overseas players be able to come and compete in India? Will they be willing to adhere to the quarantine rules that each State has got? And will any broadcasting company be ready to show leagues with few overseas players taking part?
The focus of the sports ecosystem must be to resume training at local, regional and national levels so that the pyramid gets activated and is ready for competition. The challenge is to ensure that it is not just the elite athletes who can train in safe environments but also those representing their own States and aspire to take their game to the next level.
So that brings us to the question: Is the whole thing aimed at being able to let cricket’s Indian Premier League be held in case the ICC World Twenty20 scheduled for Australia is put off or cancelled? It will be incorrect to believe that the Minister will need to call a meeting of 15 NSFs to prepare ground for any other sport’s league to be held.
In any case, the Athletics Federation of India has already drawn up a schedule of events from September this year. It is unlikely that AFI will revise its schedule to include a league. Most other NSFs, especially the one whose athletes have qualified or are likely to qualify for the Olympic Games next year, have been treading gingerly when it comes to resumption of competition.
There is no harm in sport wanting to be seen as a social catalyst in difficult times, but it must never be at the cost of the athlete. Of course, every attempt must be made to showcase competitive sport on television and social media platforms, but to ask NSFs to innovate for TV now is a tall order. For, most NSFs are used to seeing low spectator attendances at their national championships.
