‘Life is kind of boring now, but at back of the mind, we are confused, concerned’
With all sporting events suspended, and most training centres and national camps shut, what are athletes doing with their forced leisure time? Everyday a top athlete will write about her or his experience of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic for HT. This is Parupalli Kashyap, India’s former world No. 6 and 2014 Commonwealth Games-winning shuttler, who is back in India along with wife Saina Nehwal after participating at the All England Open in the UK.
Life is kind of boring nowadays and I’m just lazing around. But at the back of my mind, I think we are all confused and concerned.
That is because no one is taking a call on whether the (Tokyo) Olympics are going to be held or not. Suppose the Badminton World Federation (BWF) says in five weeks that the cancelled or postponed events will happen, then what is our scene? We have to stay fit. So firstly, we don’t know as no one is taking a call.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) put out a statement practically requesting the athletes to be okay with whatever decision they take. This is an extraordinary situation that requires extraordinary solutions, which are not possible and practical.
The IOC said in the statement that they expect the athletes to show solidarity and patience, etc. Suppose the Olympics go ahead as planned, you don’t have qualification, you don’t give preparation time, you don’t have anything. It’ll be ridiculous, right?
Also, none of the athletes are saying anything, which is ridiculous. Most athletes are just trying to say the correct things; very few are speaking out around the world.
I can’t say from the athletes’ point of view, but the IOC—I don’t think there is any other question here—if you’re not postponing or taking a decision on the Olympics, then something has to be done by every association around the world. There is no other option but to postpone it indefinitely. Indefinitely because after two weeks, will we go and play or start training? I don’t think so. Is that the solution here?
Even if this (coronavirus pandemic) gets over by July end, it’ll be too late without the qualifications and other things. Everything is going to be unfair now. If they are going to conduct such a big event, so many athletes will feel that they are being ill-treated.
Currently, I am under home isolation. It is a compulsion for us as we travelled to the United Kingdom (for the All England Open). The attitude in UK towards the coronavirus pandemic was really casual, considering the number of cases that have increased.
I am currently staying away, trying to avoid everyone and maintaining a safe distance from my parents. I can only meet (wife) Saina (Nehwal) because we were together the whole time (in England). So if we have it (COVID-19), we both have it; if we don’t, then both of us don’t.
Training wise, as all the gyms are shut, we are doing a little bit of light strengthening in our homes, some push ups, pull ups. We were supposed to meet our physiotherapist because Saina had some shin and ankle issues just before All England. I too just recovered from a back injury, so I wanted to check on the situation but we decided not to meet him. They have other clients so we thought it was a bad idea to go there.
We have to do this (self isolation) for at least two-three weeks, take this measure of not going out because we were in countries where the number (of coronavirus cases) has exponentially grown. These are tough times.
I have lost the motivation to sleep! I’m sleeping and waking up whenever I want as it doesn’t matter. I am already bored of browsing through Twitter and Instagram. I am reading up on the news, new research coming out everyday regarding COVID-19, delving into conspiracy theories between the United States and China, and other such things.
As told to Sandip Sikdar
