With the nationwide lockdown expected to end at some point -- and to some degree -- in May, the country's sports bosses are planning for the resumption of regular functioning. In the six weeks of the lockdown -- meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus -- domestic competitions have been cancelled, specialised training ground to a halt, with athletes and coaches forced to improvise while staying at home.
But federations admit that plans to restart training camps and eventually competition will depend on the kind of restrictions that will remain in place post the lockdown, the feasibility for athletes to travel and the time it will take for them to return to competition fitness.
Competitions in September
Indian track and field athletes are tentatively expected to return to the competition track in September. "We have planned for competition, depending on when the government ends the lockdown, between the September-November period," says Adille Sumariwalla, president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). He says it is essential for India's preparations for the Tokyo Olympics -- now postponed to June 2021 -- that athletes start competing by the end of the year. "Very simply, they have to run. They can't go a whole season without competition. We have raised their level to a certain extent that coaches believe they must have a competition," he says.
While a few Indian athletes competed abroad in South Africa at the start of the year, most have had no competition of any sort this season. Only two competitions have been conducted by the AFI -- the National Cross Country Championships in January and the Open Race Walking Championships in February. Even if the athletics season restarts at the earliest in September, it would still be far later than at any time previously. Last year's National Open championships -- the last multi-event national tournament of the season -- was held in August.
Competitive fitness?
Even the AFI's date of a September start is only an educated assumption. "What is the time to run the competition will depend on how much time they get for preparation. That will depend on how the lockdown ends and what kind of preparation is possible. We have made our plan assuming the lockdown will end on May 15. About two weeks ago, the idea was the lockdown would end in the end of April, but we had taken a safe date of 15th. Now if the lockdown goes to June 1, we will have to adjust our programme. Should we cut down on competition? What is the recovery time we need? How much time will go in travelling? But at this stage we are hopeful. The same slot [September to November] has been given by the World Athletics Federation to conduct our national championships," says Sumariwalla.
Additionally, the national calendar will also be determined by when different states can conduct their tournaments -- since results in those competitions will decide the participation for the national tournaments. "We have to give a slot for every district to finish its meet and then for every state meet. Both of these will need to be done within a three-week period. Everything has to be worked backwards because depending on when the nationals will be held, we will have to decide the state meets as well," says Sumariwalla.
Resuming training
However, conducting tournaments will be just one of the pieces of the puzzle that federations will have to put in place. "There's no plan to go for any international competition until September. There's not likely to be any domestic competitions in that period either. Normally the men's and women's national championships are held in October and November. But until we resume full-fledged operations, we can't have domestic competitions either," says RK Sacheti, executive director, Boxing Federation of India. "Right now the focus is on restarting their training."
Certain sports will certainly be better placed than others. The Indian men and women's hockey teams, for example, are already based at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) campus in Bangalore, since players were unable to return home prior to the lockdown being enforced. According to Hockey India officials, players are expected to stay at the camp post the lockdown too. "At this moment, SAI is looking at keeping the players at the campus and restarting training. They may not be sent home anytime soon," the official said.
However, most athletes are working from home, away from designated facilities -- which means that they aren't expected to be near competition state when the lockdown officially ends. "SAI asked all the federations what we needed. So we sent our requests as well and that was to restart training within camps within the lockdown period," says Sacheti. "SAI in turn recommended to the Ministry of Home Affairs that the training in camps resumes, but so far the approval has not happened. So for the moment we expect that the camps will resume only after the lockdown ends."
Increased precautions
Yet the federations themselves are aware that camps are unlikely to restart the moment the government announces the end of the lockdown. Rajiv Bhatia, secretary of the National Rifle Association of India, says he is hopeful that the national shooting camp can resume at the Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi from July.
While others hope that the resumption is sooner, they know that there are issues to be addressed. "The number one priority is the safety of athletes. Even after the lockdown how we will keep them safe is important. Even if they are to start training [at the National Institute of Sports] in Patiala, we want to keep them as isolated as possible for a period of time," says Sumariwalla.
There are other issues as well. "We have requested SAI that whenever the lockdown ends, the elite men and elite women camps be started. Again, we are hearing that in certain areas that have a high number of cases, there will be restrictions going beyond the lockdown. Depending on those locations, it will be decided where we can hold the camp. For example, we can't hold a camp if it falls under a containment zone. If that place isn't available, we will have to find alternatives," he says.
Additionally, with several athletes based across the country, the feasibility of travelling to national camps will have to be addressed. "Some of our athletes like [two-time world bronze medallist] Lovlina Burgohain are in far-off places. Lovlina isn't even from Guwahati but in a remote part of Assam. So, if we hold the camp in Delhi, it will be difficult for her to travel here. The total core minimum strength we need is 20 for a senior camp. If 15 can come and five can't, we will have to start the camp and wait for the rest to join," says Sacheti.
Sumariwalla admits all these proposals are speculative. "We have made detailed plans for how individual athletes are to train on a month-by-month basis. We have made options in case some ideas -- like training in Europe -- fall through. But at the end of the day these are assumptions. We will have to adapt to whatever direction this crisis takes," he says.