National cycling camp to begin from August 14 in New Delhi

The national camp for cycling will start from August 14 at the Indira Gandhi National Stadium in the national capital, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) said on Saturday. This comes after announcements of resumption of national camps for hockey and badminton this month.

A team of 11 athletes, four coaches and 16 support staff have already reported to the camp and are undergoing mandatory quarantine, said SAI.

"As a proactive, mandatory step SAI has administered the COVID-19 test to all participants, including athletes, coaches, support staff (sporting and non-sporting such as housekeeping, cooks etc) on arrival. The test reports confirm that all of them are COVID-19 negative," it said.

"As a further precautionary measure all athletes, coaches and support staff will be given the test before the start of the camp to ensure that everyone attending the on-field training from August 14 and interacting with athletes, including the athletes themselves, are COVID-19 free.

"The quarantine zone where athletes, coaches and support staff are housed has been earmarked as the Green Zone and no outsider is being allowed to access the zone or interact with the team in order to ensure complete sanitisation.

"Additionally, a doctor and nursing staff have been stationed in the facility around the clock so that any sudden emergency can be dealt with. The SOP drawn up by SAI and the Health Ministry guidelines are being strictly implemented on campus," it added,

Earlier it was revealed that five men's hockey players, including captain Manpreet Singh, had tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival at SAI's Bengaluru facility where the hockey players have assembled for their camp.