NEW DELHI, May 21: Athletes led the way in providing the Indian Olympic Association their feedback on how to restart national camps amid the COVID-19 pandemic but a lot of national federations missed the deadline for submission of response, leaving IOA President Narinder Batra disappointed.
On May 5, the IOA, while conceding that the risk of athletes losing motivation in the ongoing lockdown is real, sought their views along with those of coaches and other stakeholders on how to restart outdoor training.
There are around 40 National Sports Federations (NSFs) and 35 State Olympic Associations recognised by the IOA in the country.
Of these, 18 Olympic sport NSFs were asked to respond by May 20 but only seven � archery, hockey, rowing, squash, volleyball, weightlifting and yachting � gave feedback before the deadline, according to the IOA.
�Personally Disappointed at the non seriousness of Olympic Sports who were to revert by 20th May and did not revert,� Batra said.
�I Sincerely hope that the NSFs and SOAs who are to revert by 30th May, 2020 are taking it seriously and the defaulters of 20th May deadline will revert urgently,� he added. Sixteen SOAs were also asked to send the collated responses from the athletes and other stakeholders before May 20 so that a draft White Paper could be prepared under Batra.
After that, the remaining NSFs and SOAs were to submit their feedback by May 31 so that a final White Paper could be ready in June. � PTI
