Covid-19 in India: ‘Isolated’ India’s Olympic preparations falling prey to lethal Covid wave | More sports News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The last international competition for shooters before the Olympics stands cancelled. India’s participation in the World Athletics Relays is not possible. Freestyle wrestlers are anxious about their chances to be at the World Olympic qualifiers. The shuttlers’ participation in the Malaysian Open is in limbo. The men’s hockey team’s tour of Great Britain has been postponed.
The unwelcomed list of setbacks for the Indian athletes preparing for the Olympics, which are just over two months away, is getting longer by the day. But such is the lethality of the current Covid-19 wave in India that countries around the world are left with no choice but to close their gates for Indian nationals.
India has been flagged ‘red’ by most nations around the world as the number of daily Covid-positive cases in the country have risen to above 3 lakh on a consistent basis over the last few days. The UK was the first to do that, followed by other countries.
ATHLETICS: RELAY HOPES TAKE A HIT
The ban has left international travel for Indian athletes almost impossible. Airlines have denied boarding to Indian nationals and re-routing has been almost impossible due to strict no-entry restrictions for Indian passport holders.
“Team @WASilesia21 sadly we won’t be able to join you. But we are sending our best wishes to you. Have a great event, all the very best to everyone involved from #TeamIndiaAthletics.”

This tweet from the Athletics Federation from India was put up last evening, after all their efforts to somehow fly the runners for World Relays in Poland came a cropper.
“We have been constantly speaking to the organisers, the World Athletics, various consulates and airlines to reroute them. Under the present scenario, nobody has obliged,” AFI president Adille Sumariwalla was quoted as saying.
India were to field women’s 4x100m and the men’s 4x400m relay teams in the competition, with the former having a good chance to qualify for the Olympics from the event.
COVID-POSITIVE CASES
The current wave of the pandemic, which intensified during the second week of April, has taken its toll on individuals as well. Deepak Kumar (shooting), Simranjit Kaur (boxing), Jinson Johnson (athletics) and several members of the Indian women’s hockey team, including captain Rani, are the latest to fall prey to Covid. All of them have qualified for the Olympics.

It has resulted in fresh anxiety for India just under three months before the rescheduled Games in Tokyo in July-August.
Still, some are ready to “take the bullets” for the Olympics, while others have made peace with the situation as a “blessing in disguise” or have been forced to adopt a wait-and-watch approach.
SHOOTING: BAKU WORLD CUP CANCELLED
“This corona Tsunami has been inflicting a lot of damage,” said Olympic-bound veteran rifle shooter Sanjeev Rajput while talking to Timesofindia.com.
“It’s bad that we had just one competition [Baku World Cup] to play [before the Olympics] but because of coronavirus, it has been cancelled. But if we look at the current situation, how bad it is, then it might have happened for our good – a blessing in disguise,” he added.

With a national camp for shooters in the current atmosphere looking impossible, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) had plans of sending the shooters to Croatia, but even that looks unlikely now.
“We are still discussing [Croatia tour],” NRAI secretary Rajiv Bhatia told TimesofIndia.com. “We had our first meeting today [Wednesday] with the coaches, and tomorrow [Thursday] the president [Raninder Singh] has called another meeting. The president wanted to know the views of the coaches. We will take a call after the second meeting.”
HOCKEY: PRO LEAGUE TOURS UNDER A CLOUD
The men’s hockey team is back in the national camp at Bengaluru. Their next Pro League engagement against Great Britain in London has been postponed and the subsequent ones in Spain (May 15-16) and Germany (May 22-23) too have become uncertain.
The German federation is hanging in to see what approach Spain adopts to the developing situation, while remaining hopeful that they can host India on schedule.
“We are still trying everything to make the Indians’ journey to Germany possible. A final feedback from the authorities is pending,” Christoph Menke, Sports Director, German Hockey Federation said.
BADMINTON: SAINA, SRIKANTH’S OLYMPIC HOPES OVER?
Meanwhile, leading badminton stars like Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal face an anxious wait to know if they can travel for the Malaysia Open.

(Saina Nehwal is currently ranked No. 22 in the world – AP Photo)
Malaysia, on Wednesday, announced a temporary ban on travellers to and from India, which casts serious doubt over participation of Indian players in the tournament beginning May 25-30.
In case the Indian players don’t make it to the tournament, it will all but end Srikanth (currently ranked 20th) and Olympic bronze medallist Saina’s (currently 22nd) hopes of Olympic qualification, which earlier received a blow when the Indian Open was postponed and stripped off Olympic qualifier status.
The top 16 players make the cut for the Games.
Apart from Srikanth and Saina, the other leading Indian names scheduled to play the tournament are PV Sindhu and B Sai Praneeth, besides ten doubles players.
WRESTLING: PLAYERS WAITING IN HOPE
The freestyle wrestlers’ still hoping to qualify for the Olympics were in for a rude shock when they couldn’t board their flight to Amsterdam, on their way to Bulgaria for the World Olympic qualifiers.
The 10-member wrestling squad was scheduled to board a KLM flight on Tuesday night to travel to Sofia, but weren’t allowed after the Netherlands government imposed a ban on Indian nationals.
As per the latest available information, the Wrestling Federation of India was trying to book a flight for the players via Paris either on April 30 or May 1.
SATHIYAN READY ‘TO TAKE THE BULLETS’
Star Indian paddler G Sathiyan made it back to India from the Polish League just before the latest Covid wave tightened its grip on India. He returned on April 14 and has no tour lined up until the Olympics, which he wants to play at any cost.

“League is done now. There is no international competition till the Olympics. I have already called up Anirban Ghosh [to Chennai] for sparring,” Sathiyan told Timesofindia.com from his home. “So for the next two months, it will be training with Anirban and Raman sir [personal coach] and a couple of other players from my academy.”
Sathiyan, who has qualified for the men’s singles for the Tokyo Olympics, said he is doing everything he can to be match-ready once the Games begin on July 23.
“It’s going to be a hard Olympics, for sure. But it’s happening, and I think we are ready to take any bullets,” said Sathiyan. “I will be taking the Covid vaccine in the first week of May. There are a lot of private hospitals close-by, or I can take it through ONGC [his employers] drive. It will be easier there.”