The life-threatening Coronavirus or COVID-19 as it is now called has truly taken the world by storm. Scare has driven through everywhere and already over 50 countries are listed with traces of this disease and there is no saying where more the tentacles of this deadly disease would reach. Unsettled is the word to describe the situation in the world and so it should be in the domain of sports.
Like all fields in life, sports too is a line where planning and preparation mark the road to any major event and with the Tokyo Games just a few months away, athletes the world over must be at the zenith of the preparation level. Aspirations and dreams must just be beginning to soar for all those who believe they have in them to exhibit their deeds and gain sporting greatness. Uncertainties have crept in all of a sudden and only time will tell where everything will lead to.
Be that as it may, from an Indian perspective this is another big crisis amidst the crisis of justifying its place in the Olympics. Not that the country is a force to reckon with just as say China or Japan in the Asian region although one must say there was a time when an Olympics for India meant an exhibition of India's dominance in hockey. For long that used to be the source of joy for an Indian fan.
But that is past. Today thanks to P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal and the host of young talents surrounding them, badminton is being looked to with a new zeal and not without reason. Saina brought the country its first medal, a bronze in the London Olympics in 2012 and four years later Sindhu improved that to a Silver. Logically then the lookout is for the highest honour in this king of all Games this time. But that is where the catch lies or to put it more plainly, the concern is all about.
