‘Can’t concentrate on training’
With the outbreak of coronavirus putting a halt to sport worldwide and his parents attending to his grandfather at hospital, Bangladesh's top archer Ruman Sana has been struggling to concentrate in training, which is being held in quarantine at the Shaheed Ahsan Ullah Master Stadium in Tongi.
In line with instructions from the Youth and Sports Ministry, all sport is already postponed till March 31. Subsequently, all types of training camps in Bangladesh are also suspended while a number of international meets, including archery's Asia Cup, World Cup and Solidarity Championships were also postponed.
However, 26 archers continue to train as there has been no decision about the Tokyo Olympics, which is scheduled to begin on July 24 in Japan.
Ruman became the second Bangladeshi athlete to ever secure direction qualification to the Olympics.
"In any sport, confidence levels won't be boosted until you take part in tournaments. Confidence will go up with the number of tournaments you play. If you don't play any games, then you can't have any hope of producing good results," Ruman told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.
"Actually, I can't give a hundred percent concentration in training if there are no games ahead of us. If there would have been some competitions in the near future, then I would get a different spirit in training in order to do better in competitive tournaments."
However, the 24-year-old is aware of the reality and believes he will get more opportunities in future despite missing out on three big events.
"Life comes first. If we can stay well, we will get more opportunities to play and do better in the future. Sport is postponed in every part of world. In Bangladesh, all training camps of other disciplines have also been postponed but it is good news for us that archers are still training, thanks to the state minister for youth and sports," said Sana, adding that he was worried for his family members in Khulna.
"My family members are safe and sound, although my grandfather underwent an operation in Khulna on Thursday. My family is attending to him at hospital. That's why I am a bit anxious about my family. My sister's father-in-law is a doctor and he is advising all of us about how to stay safe, and I'm also telling them time and again to use sanitiser and soap," said Ruman, who is passing his leisure time by watching videos of archers from around the world as well as watching movies.
"The practice session is going on as usual but we are working more on physical sessions. The training area is in quarantine and the federation has taken all measures by restricting others from entering the camp as well as restricting from going outside.
"After hectic training sessions, I would always go and hang out with friends at Diabari or Purbachal to refresh myself, but at the moment I can't go outside.
"Even yesterday [Thursday] I sent some money to my family through an office staff although I always did it myself before. Now, I am passing time watching videos of archers from the world's different corners on Instagram and Facebook and learning many things from those videos. I am also watching Tamil Movies, which I think can be educational for everyone. The important thing in the camp is that we stay in a safe zone because the situation in Italy, China and other countries is worse than in Bangladesh. I pray to the Almighty to save us all," said Ruman, who believes Tokyo Olympics are likely to be deferred.
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