Health of our athletes takes precedence: SAI issues advisory to NSFs amid coronavirus scare

New Delhi [India], Mar 4 : The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Wednesday issued an advisory to all the National Sports Federations (NSF) saying that the 'health of our athletes takes precedence'.

"While the government understands the criticality of ranking tournaments and Olympic qualifiers, you would understand that the health of our athletes takes precedence. Therefore we would like to request the NSFs to adhere by the World Health Orgsation (WHO) guidelines," SAI stated in an advisory to all NSFs.

The year 2020 hold immense importance in the world of sports with the Olympics set to take place in Tokyo, Japan in July and August. However, the coronavirus outbreak has had consequences and repercussions across the globe.

Amid the spread of the deadly virus, the Indian government has advised all NSFs to exercise caution while planning foreign competitions and training for the teams and individual athletes in the light of the importance of some of these competitions which contribute to Olympic qualification.

( With inputs from ANI )