Ludhiana: Morning sessions for sportspersons to begin from today

LUDHIANA: Coaches of district sports department are gearing up to prepare young sportspersons for the upcoming challenges at national as well as state level by restarting morning sessions from Friday as the

Athletic Federation

of India announced tentative dates for the north zone as well grand prix athletic meet, which will be kicked off in the first week of December.

Members of the Athletic Federation of India have made it clear to players that the grand prix athletic tournament will only be held if the authorities concerned of the

health ministry

would be able to find a permanent solution to the spread of Covid-19. The federation said they had released tentative dates as these could be changed following the health emergency situation in view of spread of Covid-19.

Coaches have also taken a crucial step in this direction by resuming the normal practice sessions at

training centres

of the district with a view to catering to advance training skills of young sportsperson for upcoming challenges. Apart from that,

the sports department

have restarted the practice sessions on the athletic track of the Guru Nanak Dev Stadium earlier, which was earlier being used by district administration for medical screening and verification of more than 3.5 lakhs migrants’ workers.

A local athlete, Gaurav Sharma, said “We are happy over the decision of sports department to increase the practice hours in view of the upcoming state as well national championships because we have already faced several months of delay in joining the daily practice sessions due to lockdown after outbreak of Covid-19.”

Moreover, players have showed their interest in participating in regular evening sessions as several of them are struggling to maintain their physical fitness to compete in upcoming challenges in the sports arena.

District sports officer Ravinder Singh, said “We have received tentative dates from the Athletic Federation of India for preparing the local trainees but it’s not sure that the tournament will be conducted on the same dates as the final decision would be taken by the health authorities after looking at the safety of players and coaches.”

He further said that the local coaches were already conducting daily practice sessions.


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