BFI president requests Health Minister to vaccinate Tokyo-bound athletes on urgent basis

Boxing Federation of India president Ajay Singh has written to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju to provide vaccination for Tokyo Olympics bound athletes and those preparing for qualification tournaments on an urgent basis.

Singh said vaccination will help in “preparedness of athletes, facilitate their access to the Olympic village and will also safeguard our top performers of the country from the possibility of being infected.”

“Keeping in view of safety and mental preparedness of the Olympic preparation group comprising of athletes and other technical officials associated in the process, I request you to kindly vaccinate the Olympic team of athletes and officials and other Olympic probables who would be competing in qualifiers on an urgent basis,” Singh wrote to Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday.

Nine Indian boxers, including London Olympics bronze medallist Mary Kom, have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. The boxers will be looking to seal four more available slots during the qualification tournament in June.

Singh, who has also written to Sports Minister Rijiju, said many disciplines are also looking to organize international exposure tours in India and vaccination of athletes would help.

“India has good medal prospects in this Olympics. Despite the jolt of the pandemic, now we need to concentrate more. For good international exposure, the teams are participating in training camps and tournaments abroad. Some disciplines are proposing international camps in India,” he said.

India’s vaccination drive is set to begin on January 16. A parliamentary parliamentary standing committee last month recommended that “athletes, coaches and support staff going for the Tokyo Olympics should be put in the priority group for the COVID 19 vaccination.”