The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has formed a six-member committee headed by Secretary Rohit Bharadwaj to prepare a standard operating procedure for the resumption of training at SAI centres across the country.
Training and competitions have been frozen since March due to the coronavirus pandemic and the nationwide lockdown.
SAI said that a separate committee headed by the Training of Elite Athlete Management Support (TEAMS) Division Executive Director Radhica Sreeman has been formed for swimming since the sport requires athletes to train in water and may have different health risks involved as compared to other sports.
"The recommendations of the committees are being made in consultation with respective National Sporting Federations (NSF) and other stakeholders, and will be sent to the Sports Ministry for final approval. All NSFs have been asked to share their recommendation of preventive measures that must be followed in each sport so as to ensure safety of athletes from Covid19," said SAI in its statement.
Charting an SOP
"The first committee, headed by Rohit Bharadwaj, Secretary, Sports Authority of India, will recommend the Standard Operating Procedures describing protocols and preventive measures to be observed by all stakeholders, including trainees, coaches, technical and non-technical support staff, NSFs, administrators, mess and hostel staff and visitors, once training resumes.
"The SOP will include in detail the guidelines to be followed on entry norms, sanitisation guidelines, precautions to be taken in common areas and by athletes while travelling to and from the centre. The other members of the committee include Rajesh Rajagopalan, CEO, TOPS, S.S Roy, Executive Director (Operations), S.S Sarla, Col B.K Nayak and Sachin K, Assistant Director, TOPS.
"The committee for swimming, headed by Radhica Sreeman, Executive Director, TEAMS Division of SAI, includes Monal Choksi, secretary general of the Swimming Federation of India, senior coaches and doctors. SAI will draw up the guidelines in consultation with coaches and medical practitioners to ensure all preventive measures are put in place before swimmers resume training."
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