Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], May 26 (ANI): Odisha's Sports Minister, Tusharkanti Behera has said that he is hopeful of sporting activities operating in full by the end of this year.

All sporting activity across the world has been suspended since March due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, with the easing of restrictions, the sporting activities are gradually starting.

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Sports Ministry of India (SAI) has also issued its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for resuming the activities and athletes like Dutee Chand have already resumed with their training.

"Worldwide, from sporting events to training and even Olympics, all of them had to be rescheduled or suspended in the best interest of the sports fraternity. COVID- 19 has significantly altered the global sports scenario and Odisha is no different. This year's national and international sports events including the FIH Pro League and the FIFA U 17 WWC to be held in Bhubaneswar, have been postponed. Training, competitions, and camps across sports disciplines were on temporary suspension. Sports infrastructure and facilities were shut," Behera told ANI.

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"Sports infrastructure development that were ongoing across districts to make sports inclusive and accessible to all, or host international sporting events later this year were put on hold after the nationwide lockdown was announced by the Prime Minister. Now, with restrictions being eased and guidelines laid, the Sports scenario is gradually opening up. We are hopeful that it may commence operating in full swing towards the end of this year," he added.

Behera also urged the athletes throughout the country to not lose their focus and keep looking at the bigger picture.

"We understand that this phase would have affected the physical and mental wellbeing of our sportspersons. But, I would urge all our athletes to not lose focus and stay active and healthy by resuming their training routine, indoors or outdoors as best possible given the current situations and restrictions," Behera said.

"Competitions have been postponed and not cancelled, hence they should not feel demotivated. They can use this time for self-assessment. Setting goals and timely training will be helpful in the long run," he added.

The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was slated to be played in India from November 2 this year, but it has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will be now be played from February 17- March 7, 2021.

Originally the World Cup was originally scheduled to be held across five cities Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Navi Mumbai, and Kolkata.

Talking about the tournament, the minister said: "Initially, FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was scheduled to be played in November 2020, but now it has been postponed due to the coronavirus, we were prepared to conduct the event in November, we are already prepared, there are total five fields, one is for match and rest of the four are practice, because of the lockdown the work was completely stopped, but now we are resuming the work on stadiums and fields". (ANI)

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