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KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — National athletes are advised to focus on their injury recovery as well as improving their performance rather than thinking about their participation in overseas tournaments.
“Nearly half of the 229 international tournaments had to be cancelled this year following the Covid-19 outbreak, so national athletes should use their time this year to improve their performance as this year is their best chance to do so before facing some important tournaments next year.
“They should be focusing on basic training at this point, and if they are really ready, then NSC can consider their participation in any future tournaments,” National Sports Council (NSC) Athletes’ Division director, Jefri Ngadirin told Bernama today.
In the meantime, Jefri said athletes from a number of sports including sailing, athletics and badminton had completed Covid-19 swab test and were allowed to undergo regular training, subject to the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the National Security Council and the Ministry of Health.
He explained that athletes and sports officials from 26 sports are expected to take the Covid-19 swab test this week before they are allowed to continue training if the test results are negative.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports previously gave the green light to athletes from a number of sports including badminton and sailing, as well as athletes under the ‘Road to Tokyo’ 2020 programme to resume training after meeting certain requirements including taking a Covid-19 swab test. — Bernama
