An athlete training at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in the national capital has tested positive for Covid-19, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has informed, adding the development will not hamper the ongoing camp.
The two-month training camp began on October 15 and is scheduled to run until December 14. The camp comprises 32 shooters (18 men and 14 women), 8 coaches, 3 foreign coaches, and two support staff.
“An NCOE athlete training at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in the 10-meter range has tested positive for the coronavirus. The athlete who last visited the range on October 28th in the second half of the day intimated to his coach that his test result had come positive,” an SAI statement read.
“All NCOE athletes who were training at the time this shooter had last visited the range have been asked to go into 14 days quarantine and rejoin after a Covid negative report. The same process is to be followed by the support staff who came in contact with the shooter,” it added.
The identity of the athlete has, however, not been revealed.
There will, however, be no impact on the national squad of Olympic bound shooters training at the range owing to this reported case.
“…an exclusive slot has been given in the first half of the day for Olympic athletes to train and a one hour gap is given between first and second half when NCOE athletes come to train,” SAI said.
“Once the NCOE athletes leave after their training in the second half, the entire facility is sanitized again before Olympic bound athletes come for training the next morning. The range is also sanitized between the two sessions during the day,” it added.
India has won a record 15 quotas in shooting for the Tokyo Olympics and can still obtain quotas on the basis of world rankings.
