The Sports Authority of India (SAI) announced on August 30, 2020, that the developmental group of shooters will be allowed to use its facilities from September 2020, as the central government further eased the lockdown restrictions under Unlock 4.

As per the Sports Authority, the shooters at the National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) at Karni Singh Shooting Range and of Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) will begin their training from September 2, 2020.

During the training of the developmental group of athletes, the guidelines of the Health Ministry and Sports authority’s own Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be strictly followed.

Key Highlights:

• As India enters the phase 4 of Unlock, the Sports Authority decided to open its facilities for the developmental group athletes.

• The decision of opening sporting facilities in a phased manner has been taken to ensure that the training and safety of the athletes can go hand-in-hand.

• Separate slots have also been reserved for the Olympic bound core group of the elite shooters in order to ensure continued training in a safe environment.

• Some of the elite shooters have already been training at the Karni Singh Range since the middle of August 2020.

Ban lifted from the Sports activities:

The Union Home Ministry on August 29, 2020, in its Unlock 4 guidelines, had decided to allow the sports gathering of up to 100 people from September 21. As per the new guidelines, the ministry has now lifted the total ban on sports activities, which was earlier till August 31.

However, such gathering will only be permitted with social distancing, face masks, hand wash or sanitizer, and provision for thermal scanning. In the first phase of opening of the sporting activities, Olympic and Paralympic-bound athletes began their sporting activities at SAI’s facilities.