After Olympics postponement, athletes can now calm down a bit: Abhinav Bindra

New Delhi: 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra believes the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was prompt in its action as they took a timely decision to postpone T0kyo 2020 Games by a year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“It is nice to see that the decision was taken quite promptly because there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding whether the Games would happen or not. The athletes can now calm down a little bit and firstly make sure that they stay healthy and people around them stay healthy. That is the most important thing,” Bindra told Olympic Channel.

Bindra, who is India’s lone individual gold medallist, said that the athletes around the world were overwhelmingly in favour of the postponement of the Games, which was duly conveyed to the IOC.

“We had a call with 200 athlete representatives recently. We have been in constant touch with the entire athlete community. It’s nice to see that the welfare of the athletes has taken precedence,” said the 37-year-old.

On Tuesday, the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee said in a joint statement that the committee’s president Thomas Bach and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed that the Games have to be “rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021.”

This thus makes it the first Olympics to be postponed with the Games being cancelled previously in 1916 due to the First World War and 1940 and 1944 due to the Second World War.

“This is an unprecedented situation. The IOC has always been guided by the principle that the health of all the athletes and of all who are associated with the Games is paramount and had to act responsibly in the containment of the virus. It’s absolutely the right decision that’s been taken,” said Abhinav Bindra.

According to Bindra, athletes around the world will take the postponement in a sporting way and rejig their plans.

“I believe athletes — not only in India but on the whole — are the most resilient people I know and they will take this challenge in a sporting way and rejig their plans... (there’s) more than enough time to rejig their plans and their training so that they are in top shape going into the Games,” he said.

“But the priority for everybody remains to take care of their health.” IANS

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