The drubbing continues as Coronavirus spreads. Fears of the contagion has had an effect on the sporting world as on any other sphere. Many events have either been indefinitely postponed or called off. The questions being asked are about the fast approaching mega event that start from July 24: The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and Indian Badminton stars Parupalli Kashyap and Saina Nehwal have voiced their over qualifications after the coronavirus outbreak.
Kashyap was injured during Spain Masters. He took to Twitter providing an update on his injury and also voiced his concern over Olympic qualifications due to coronavirus outbreak. "Hey everyone , a quick update on my current condition. So post the back injury in the Spain masters , got an Intra Articular Injection to speed the recovery process and trying my best to participate in tournaments soon. Hoping for the best," Kashyap tweeted.
"I wanted to address another topic regarding the situation with the Coronavirus and the Olympic qualification period and the no. of tournaments which are doubtful to be held . We all had 7 events starting from Spain masters until the Singapore open n few have the Asian Champs too.
"Now that German open is cancelled and Swiss Open looking doubtful and Singapore n Malaysia opens also with the same worries , it’ll be completely unfair for so many athletes who are on the borderline of qualification at this moment.
"7 events are a lot of events considering the best 10 performances in a qualifying period are chosen . If at all the virus is contained and slowly everything comes back to normalcy in a few months and the Olympics takes place on same dates then BWF and IOC have to revise and..
"..extend the qualification dates and make sure they add on the events later or make it a fair qualification . I understand that everything has to be assumed at this moment but I hope all the athletes have a fair chance to qualify for the Olympics.
"Many players were injured in the last year when the qualification period started and now if they’re fit n hope to do well in the next events , what happens to their qualification chances if most the events are doubtful as of now.
Nehwal, agreeing with Kashyap said, "It will b unfair for most of the players who are really close to qualifying for Olympics 2020."
The Games venue is 2,434 km away from the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, Wuhan in China. In the run-up to it, a number of Olympic qualifiers have been cancelled, and many are now wondering how the outbreak may affect the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
Dick Pound, former Canadian swimming champion and one of the longest-serving officials of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said talking to the media that there is only a three-month window to decide the fate of the Games, meaning a decision could be put off until late May. If the IOC decides the Games cannot go forward as scheduled in Tokyo, “you’re probably looking at a cancellation,” he said.
