New Delhi: Indian athletes will have to sign an agreement paper that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) will not be held accountable if they get infected during their stay at national camps when they restart on-field training after more than two months of the lockdown.
SAI, on Thursday, released its revised 'Standard Operating Procedure' (SOP) guidelines to resume training of athletes after the central government decided to reopen stadiums and sports complexes across the country.
SAI training centre, Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi. However, to everybody's surprise SAI stated that athletes interested in joining these camps have to sign a consent form to resume training at their own risk. With this move, SAI has completely washed its hands off from taking care of athletes' well being. The consent paper reads, "I hereby acknowledge the risks associated with resuming training at the centre under the present Covid-19 pandemic situation; I hereby acknowledge the centre cannot guarantee the complete elimination of risks posed by Covid-19 through the implementation of the precautions and protocols identified by the centre, and I hereby declare that I am willing to resume training at the centre on my own consent without the influence of any other party."
At the same time, the national sports federations (NSFs) will also have to give a written letter to the centre, admitting the risk associated with resuming training. SAI has left the task to the NSFs to get the signed copy from the athletes.
The SAI's unwarranted move baffled many and it, of course, raised questions. First, why is it implementing SOP when it can't take care of the safety of athletes? Why can't the SAI instead take a pledge to ensure the well-being of athletes? And most importantly why is SAI resuming training of athletes when it is not sure about protecting its centres from COVID-19 infection? It is quite understandable why SAI is in a hurry as it wants athletes to get back their rhythm in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics. But, is sports more important than life?
Is it not impractical to put the life of athletes at risk? Why should the athletes sign a consent form when SAI itself is stating that SOP can't guarantee them a safe place for training in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic? The country takes pride when athletes win medals at the Olympics, but if it can't take care of its athletes it has no right to force them to sign a consent form.
