IOA asks NSFs their tentative roadmap for postponed Olympics

New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has asked for details of how the National Sports Federations (NSFs) are approaching the postponed Tokyo Olympics.

With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announcing that the Olympics will now be held in 2021, a myriad of issues face NSFs including contracts of coaches — particularly those who are not from India.

In a letter sent by IOA president Narinder Batra to the presidents and secretary generals of all the NSFs, the association has asked for what the federations’ plans are with regards to extension of contracts to coaches and support staff as “many contracts are ending in 2020.”

He also asked for a draft training calendar for athletes for the postponed Olympics and a tentative planning for the qualification events. Almost all tournaments that served as qualifiers for the Games across sports have either been cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic which has killed over 27,000 people around the world thus far.

The IOA also asked for the current location of the athletes and the status of their respective health. “We fully understand that under the present circumstances, it will be very difficult to give any confirmations but this is just to get everyone on same page,” the letter said.

The Tokyo Olympics was originally scheduled to be held from July 24 to August 9. The IOC however announced on March 24 that it has decided to undertake the unprecedented move to postpone the Games to 2021 after it came under increasing pressure from athletes and federations due to the raging global crisis caused by coronavirus.

The IOA on its part said that it welcomed the move and will hold meetings with athletes, federations, sponsors, etc. to revise plans after the lockdown imposed in the country to deal with the pandemic.

–IANS

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