New Delhi: The Indian boxing team, returning from the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jordan, will be ‘home-quarantined’ in view of the COVID-19 threat even though all the members have got the necessary health clearances, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) said Thursday.
Thirteen boxers and almost an equal number of coaching staff arrive back Thursday after clinching an unprecedented nine Olympic slots in the qualifiers which concluded Wednesday in Amman.
“They will be asked to quarantine themselves at their homes or hostel rooms for a few days. They have, however, been given the necessary health clearances by the Jordanian Olympic association,” BFI executive director RK Sacheti said. Prior to participating in the qualifiers, the boxers were training in Italy, one of the worst-affected by the coronavirus pandemic, till February 26.
“They have got the health certificates. Plus we will follow all the government guidelines on this. They will be screened on their arrival and would be asked to stay at home for some days. But there is no cause of concern, all of them are healthy. They will be told to avoid any media interactions. We are also in touch with health ministry to for any further instructions,” he added.
India’s high performance director Santiago Nieva also said that the boxers are doing fine. “Nobody is coughing, nobody is sneezing, everything is fine,” he said from Amman.
The government Wednesday said that people who have been to the seven worst-affected countries, including Italy (more than 800 deaths so far), after February 15 and returning to India after midnight March 13 will have to be quarantined for 14 days.
The boxers who booked their Olympic tickets in the Jordanian capital are – the legendary MC Mary Kom (51kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Amit Panghal (52kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg). Of these, Simranjit and Vikas bagged silver medals.
PTI