Union minister of state for youth affairs and sports Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said his ministry is planning a phase-wise resumption of national camps for Olympic bound athletes by the end of this month.
While speaking at Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry’s (FICCI)webinar titled ‘Corona& Sports: The Champions Speak’, Rijiju said the nationwide lockdown has forced the sports ministry to delay the resumption of the training camps at Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres.
He also said that the functioning of the national camps will be first started at NIS Patiala and SAI Bengaluru.
“The camps will start in a phase-wise manner. First we will start training in NIS Patiala and SAI, Bengaluru where athletes are based currently.By the end of this month training is expected to start in Bengaluru and Patiala,” he added.
“The camps will be for those sports which have qualified for Olympics or the sports whose Olympic qualification is in future.We will relax things partially looking at the Olympics,” he said.
The Centre on Friday extended the nationwide lockdown to contain COVID-19 pandemic for two weeks, starting May 4.
Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order under the Disaster Management Act 2005 to further extend the lockdown for a period of two weeks.