Safety foremost before return of sport: Shuttler HS Prannoy

KOCHI: While the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak, the return of live sports across the world will depend on a multitude of factors.  Some health experts have suggested that live sports could be resumed without fans in attendance at the venue.

Indian shuttler HS Prannoy, who was among the first athletes to realise the seriousness of the coronavirus, feels that would be the way to go, but added that such a decision should not be rushed.He had made the big decision to pull out of the All England Badminton Championship at a time when the virus was slowly spreading. Since then, all the sporting events have been postponed or cancelled with no timeline on when things will resume again.

“Once we start the events again, probably we should start without spectators. The foremost interest is to protect the community. It’s a tough decision to make and we’ll have to wait and see. First thing is to ensure that things are completely safe and then see on how to probably start,” said Prannoy, while adding that he didn’t see any sporting activity happening for at least the next three to four months.

The 27-year-old had been vocal about the world body’s (BWF) decision to go ahead with the All England Championship when the virus was spreading but admitted that being out of action is tough.“We have never faced such kind of a situation in our life. As a sportsperson, we are active all the time. And to suddenly come back home and do nothing, it is tough. But I think as a sportsperson, it is also important that you get ample amount of rest.

“We are getting more than ample amount of time and it is frustrating after a period of time and I’m also feeling that frustration. But when you think about all the people who are working really hard to stop this virus, I think we just need to do this. This is the least we can do.”

Currently at his home in Thiruvananthapuram, he makes it a point to train twice a day and have online sessions with his coaches at the Gopichand Academy. “It’s important that we don’t lose our fitness and go back to zero per cent once we come back. So I’m trying to maintain my fitness.”