India’s Union Home Minister Kiren Rijiju said that India will not be a destination for any international event in the near future. He also advised sports enthusiasts to learn to live with new normal of the game post-COVID-19.
He further said resumption of sports activities will entirely depend upon states and local administrative guidelines.
“We have been clearly advising that health and safety are top priorities. Besides that we have to keep in mind two other things, one is the guidelines issued by the Home Ministry, second, is the guidelines issued by the administrations of the respective localities or States. So, these are to be taken into account,”
quoted India Today as Kiren Rijiju saying.
Not going to have a tournament immediately
The sports minister while accepting the fact that resumption of sports is something he is planning out to, maintained that it will not level up the normalcy immediately.
“We have been working for quite some time now to resume sporting activities but before that we have to think about practice and training. We are not going to have a tournament kind of situation immediately,” quoted India Today as Kiren Rijiju saying.
He also added in his statement that Sports fans should learn and follow new rules once the sports back into the action again.
“We have to learn to live with the situation where sporting events will have to be carried forward without spectators in stadiums and sports venues.”
Fate of IPL would be decided according to the situation
The Sports minister further reiterated his position he has been taking for few days about players’ safety, he said that players’ safety and well being is paramount and any decision will be taken only after analysing things and circumstances.
“In India, the government has to take a call and it will take a call depending on the situation. We cannot put health at risk just because we want to have a sporting event. Our focus if fighting Covid-19 and at the same time we will have to work a mechanism to get back to normalcy. It is difficult to confirm dates but I am sure we will have some kind of sporting events this year,” Rijiju said when asked if IPL can be held this year or not.
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