Live online workshops a wonderful initiative during a lockdown: Pullela Gopichand

New Delhi: At a time when athletes have been restricted to their homes owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has launched a series of live online workshops with experts in sports science and sports management to engage athletes and help them enhance their knowledge.

The workshop was launched by Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on his Twitter account, where he invited everyone to join in the interesting sessions. The workshops are live from 11 am every day, on all social media platforms of SAI.

The first session of the 24-series workshop started on Friday with renowned physiotherapist Nikhil Latey speaking about how to train at home during the time of corona which got over 8K views.

This was followed by a session on nutritional requirements for athletes during corona by Ryan Fernando, which garnered more than 15K viewership from athletes, coaches and fitness enthusiasts.

Other speakers include national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, former Indian hockey captain Viren Rasquinha and senior sports journalist Sharda Ugra, among many others.

The sessions are being attended by athletes and para athletes from all sport, including Olympic probables shooters Divyash Panwar, Apurvi Chandela, Abhishek Verma, boxer Lovlina Borgohain, Anish Bhanwala, Nikhat Zarin, swimmer Srihari Nataraj, among others.

Speaking about the sessions, Olympian Pooja Dhanda said, “The sessions are very informative. It helped me think differently about training while at home and helped me focus on the key areas. I look forward to the other sessions as well.”

Praising the initiative and affirming the importance of being mentally and physically fit while being at home, Pullela Gopichand said, “It is a wonderful initiative taken by SAI. In these testing times with the coronavirus, it is important to keep oneself physically and mentally active and find ways to use our time better. These online sessions will certainly help in achieving that. Sport is not only about being competitive, challenges will be thrown up and it is how we face them with the best of our ability and keep moving forward.” IANS

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