Sporting events can start from August, says Sports minister Kiren Rijiju

In their bid to restart the sport after lockdown, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju engaged in a virtual meeting with representatives of the Indian Olympic Association and 15 National Federations to discuss the way forward for the 15 sporting disciplines in terms of training of athletes, participation in national and international competitions and organising sporting events in India.

The minister said, “We are in the first phase of Unlock and as a country we are slowly adapting to the present situation and therefore the time is right to slowly open up sports, while following safety protocols. Since federations are best qualified to decide the way forward for each sport, the ministry would like to get ideas from federations. Their ideas will be the key in planning India’s post Covid strategy in sports. After today’s meeting the Sports Ministry will review all the ideas and work in tandem with federations to open up sports. I feel from August onwards we should be able to start some sporting events as well.”

Rijiju was hopeful of resuming and hosting sports events in the upcoming months and urged all federations to speak to league managers and propose a few events that can be organised in each sport. “Given the situation, we have to be innovative about events. We may need to hold smaller events in stadias and not have spectators. But we can surely try and beam the sports on television channels and social media platforms. The resumption of sporting events will boost the confidence of our athletes and also create an atmosphere of normalcy in these trying times. We can plan some events in August onwards,” he added