Lockdown 4.0 – Green Flag to Re-opening of Sports Complexes

Last updated on February 13th, 2023 at 04:35 pm

To a great relief for all sports enthusiasts in India, the government has lifted the curb through new guidelines, thus allowing re-opening of sports complexes.

On late Sunday, the central government issued the lockdown extension till May 31 with new guidelines and relaxations in various sectors. According to these latest guidelines, the government has finally agreed to re-open the sports complexes in India, albeit certain caveats.

Stadia and sports complexes are now permitted to open for sports activities. MHA stated in the released statement on Sunday, “However, spectators will not be allowed.” This regulation will now permit the athletes stuck in SAI (Sports Authority of India) centers to resume their training.

This will allow the sports with no-contact format to resume training immediately. However, the sports with complete or partial format will have to wait for further guidelines.

“We still need to clarify if all sports complexes are open or only training centers? The SAI centers are in any case not open to general public but every sport is different, so let us wait a day to know the details,” IOA president Narinder Batra stated.

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The MHA guidelines also stated, “all social / political / sports / entertainment / academic / cultural / religious functions / other gatherings and large congregations” are still strictly prohibited. This is causing doubts on resumption of sports.

Reaction of BCCI

BCCI has announced that it will wait for holding any skill based training camps for the players under contract. This decision is after taking into account the ban on air-travel and mass movement of people till May 31.

BCCI further said that it would coordinate with the state governments to schedule any skill based training camps for the players at a local level.

The Tamil Nadu government has however given relaxation to its athletes training for international or national events. Under this the players can train independently with coaches after permission.