IOA's preparations committee wants athletes to train within the country this year

Indian Olympic Association's preparations committee on Wednesday said that a consensus was reached regarding the athletes' training regime this year.

All the members agreed that all athletes should look to train within the country in order to avoid any risk.

A meeting of IOA's Preparations Committee was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Lalit Bhanot via video conferencing earlier today and it was attended by the National Sports Federations whose athletes have already qualified for Olympics and also those NSFs whose athletes are yet to qualify for Olympics.

A total of 62 representatives attended the meeting. IOA's president Narinder Batra also marked his presence.

Tokyo Olympics 2020 have been postponed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. And as a result, IOA's preparations committee discussed both advantages and disadvantages of this postponement.

The committee said that the Indian athletes who are young in age will get more time to train due to this postponement while this decision may hamper the spirit of those athletes who have been carrying injuries and have already matured.

In the meeting, it was also recommended that the decisions on extension of contracts for high-performance directors, chief/head coaches, coaches, and other support staff till 2021 or 2024 needs to be done on priority by Sports Authority of India.

( With inputs from ANI )