New Delhi, Aug 25: (PTI) Indian athletes and coaches have come a long way in understanding the role of sports science at the highest level but there is still scope for improvement, feels Arun Basil Mathew, who was the Indian contingent’s chief medical officer at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Mathew, who had also travelled for the Tokyo Olympics last year, took care of the medical needs of the athletes during the Games in Birmingham earlier this month.
“Nowadays, most of them have a sound knowledge regarding training regime, nutrition, injuries etc. Thanks to our coaches who are also well aware and educated in this. I must say this is a new thing in Indian sports and credit goes to the advent of great strategies and policies implemented by our Government,” Mathew told PTI.
“There is still scope for a lot of improvement and upgradation. Athletes and support staff should be more educated in sports science, correct model for training, nutrition and injury prevention strategies and rest and rehabilitation regimes.
“Government should focus more on bringing talents from the grassroot level and imparting them with good knowledge of sports science,” he added.
He also confirmed that four Indian athletes, including star shuttler P V Sindhu, had tested positive for COVID-19 during the CWG.
The 300-plus Indian contingent remained largely free from COVID-19 during the sporting extravaganza. Besides Sindhu, the others who tested positive were para discus thrower Aneesh Kumar Pillai and hockey player Navjot Kaur, who both could not compete in the tournament.
“Even though PV Sindhu tested positive initially, she had very high CT values (the higher the CT values, the less risk of infecting others) and subsequently became negative.
“She was asymptomatic and was absolutely stable clinically and hemodynamically,” Mathew said.
Two-time Olympic medallist and former word champion Sindhu went on to win her maiden singles title at the Games.
“Based on my examination report and recommendation, the Clinical Covid Manager and the RACEG expert committee took the final decision in her case.
“We had 3 other athletes who were also COVID positive in the course of the Games (all during screening at embarkation into the UK) and we were successful in treating them and implementing the mitigation measures to contain the spread of infection to other members of the Contingent,” said Mathew.
