New Delhi,  At a time when athletes have been restricted to their homes owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has launched a series of live online workshops with experts in sports science and sports management to engage athletes and help them enhance their knowledge.

The workshop was launched by Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on his Twitter account, where he invited everyone to join in the interesting sessions. The workshops are live from 11 am everyday, on all social media platforms of SAI.

The first session of the 24-series workshop started on Friday with renowned physiotherapist Nikhil Latey speaking about how to train at home during the time of corona which got over 8K views.

This was followed by a session on nutritional requirements for athletes during corona by Ryan Fernando, which garnered more than 15K viewership from athletes, coaches and fitness enthusiasts.

Other speakers include national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, former Indian hockey captain Viren Rasquinha and senior sports journalist Sharda Ugra, among many others.

The sessions are being attended by athletes and para athletes from all sport, including Olympic probables shooters Divyash Panwar, Apurvi Chandela, Abhishek Verma, boxer Lovlina Borgohain, Anish Bhanwala, Nikhat Zarin, swimmer Srihari Nataraj, among others.

Speaking about the sessions, Olympian Pooja Dhanda said, "The sessions are very informative. It helped me think differently about training while at home and helped me focus on the key areas. I look forward to the other sessions as well."

Praising the initiative and affirming the importance of being mentally and physically fit while being at home, Pullela Gopichand said, "It is a wonderful initiative taken by SAI. In these testing times with the coronavirus, it is important to keep oneself physically and mentally active and find ways to use our time better. These online sessions will certainly help in achieving that. Sport is not only about being competitive, challenges will be thrown up and it is how we face them with the best of our ability and keep moving forward."

Latey lauded SAI for taking up these online sessions and for reaching out to the athletes in these times, especially with the Olympics being postponed, saying: "These are uncertain times for athletes with the lockdown and suspension of training and events across the world. For a lot of us, the moment the lockdown is lifted, we can get back to doing what we do, but it's not the same for athletes. They are unsure if they will be at the same level as they used to be in the absence of regular training and competition. This is why we need to come forward and help our athletes and make them utilise their time and these online sessions initiated by SAI are so useful. With the nationwide reach that SAI has, it will definitely have a positive impact."