Olympic-bound athletes and coaches should be given priority in vaccination, says Indian Parliamentary Panel

The Indian Parliamentary Panel stated on Thursday that Olympic-bound athletes, coaches and support staff will be prioritized in vaccination for COVID-19. The Tokyo Olympic Games are scheduled to take place in July, 2021 after being postponed from the initial start date of July, 2020 due to the pandemic. There will be a total of 1,10,000 athletes who will take part in the Games from around the world.

The Indian Parliamentary Panel announced its decision today through an official report. The committee is headed by Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe and it submitted the report titled ‘Preparation for Olympics – 2021’ to India’s vice-President and Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu.

‘International competitions should be accorded priority’

The Parliamentary Panel in its report also alleged that the various measures during the pandemic such as the restrictions on travel have caused inconvenience to the athletes and their training. The panel further requested the hosting of international tournaments before the Olympic Games in order to help athletes in their preparation and also to fill up vacancies for coaches.

“About 561 vacancies exist for coaches. This is unacceptable. These should be filled up within a specific time-bound manner so that Olympic preparations don’t suffer. International competitions should be accorded priority as they prepare athletes for pressure situations hey may find themselves in during the actual Olympics,” the committee said in its report.

Also Read: “Tokyo is the best place to host the Olympics,” says Indian table tennis star Sathiyan Gnanasekaran