How Indian sports adapted to COVID conundrum

It is exactly one year since India's sporting landscape, along with the rest of the world, lost most of its vibrancy thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. The beginning of it all was with a sudden closure for a few months, athletes locked in hostel rooms or their homes, without any practice or supervision of national coaches. But as they adapted to the fear and uncertainty, a tentative resumption followed on global cues. That has continued despite relatively minor glitches cropping up both on and off the field of play.

Cricket was the first to hit the restart button in Indian sports with the IPL, albeit on foreign shores of UAE, in a strict bio-secure bubble. A few COVID cases caused a flutter before it began but once the tournament-proper started rolling, it set a new benchmark on how to conduct an event amid a raging pandemic.But the rules of engagement changed. So no saliva to shine the ball, no handshakes at toss, no moving out of the hotels during series, and mostly no fans to egg them on.

It was welcomed to start with as players were just desperate to compete again but the murmurs have grown louder by the day about the impact such isolation is having on the mental health of those competing. India skipper Virat Kohli was upfront on the challenging situations that might arise out of such a taxing system if scheduling is not eased up a bit. On the upside, head coach Ravi Shastri talked about the bonding that grew with being in a bubble when players had just each other to fall back on.

In sports other than cricket, it has been about not just making adjustments but also redrawing the plans after the Tokyo Olympics were postponed to this year.The suspension was welcomed at first as hardly anyone wanted to risk it in the face of a virus that has still not been controlled despite the arrival of multiple vaccines and better treatment protocols. However, as days turned to weeks and weeks into months, the frustration grew about not knowing what might happen next.For those who had booked their Tokyo tickets, the wait and watch was easier but for those still not assured of a berth at the quadrennial showpiece, the battle to keep the morale intact has been quite something.

At a boxing tournament in Spain earlier this month, India's entire campaign on the final day was derailed after one pugilist tested positive for the virus, leading to three forced pullouts. Such setbacks, seemingly beyond control despite the highly sanitised competition environments, are a new challenge for the teams and their support staff to deal with. "What can one do, just take it on the chin and move forward," an Indian boxing coach said of the disappointment.

Shooters, who carry the maximum burden of expectations when it comes to Olympic medals hopes, are back at the range with the ongoing Delhi World Cup and have been largely impressive despite not competing for a year. The story has been similar for track-and-field athletes, the paddlers, the tennis players and many of their other colleagues. They have adapted to the new normal despite the many trials and troubles. A shining example of it was the Olympic qualification achieved by top paddlers like A Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra earlier this month. Not to forget the new national marks set at the athletics' Indian Grand Prix around the same time.