As stadiums provide less time to practice to avoid overcrowding, some young athletes have made Central Delhi’s Nehru Park as their training ground.

“We athletes have a very high-calorie intake and once you stop training, you put on weight very quickly. During the initial lockdown, we sat at home and it was very tough. But now we can come to this park and at least maintain our fitness. I do my warm-ups in the grassy area and then take rounds of the jogging path. We are fortunate to have access to such a park,” says Harendra Kumar, 2019 Youth 1500m national champion.

There are four coaches who train close to 50 students at the park now. Other youngsters are staying home due to the fear of the virus or have gone back home to their native villages, mainly in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

Coach Dinesh Rawat has been training his wards at the park for the last couple of months. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, where he coached regularly, has allotted two-time slots of 45 minutes each, which according to Rawat is as good as not holding training at all.