Archery team physio reveals the time archers need to regain pre-lockdown fitness

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Image Courtesy: PTI

After almost five months of suspension amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the national archery camp has resumed at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune from 25th August. Naturally, such a long gap in training has affected the fitness of the archers, and the Indian team physiotherapist Dr Arvind Yadav reveals that it will take around 4 to 6 weeks for the athletes to regain their pre-lockdown fitness.

Image Courtesy: PTI

The national camp, which consisted eight men and eight female recurve archers, was suspended on 21st March. On 13th August, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had sanctioned the recommencement of the camp from 25th August.

However, the huge break away from training has taken a toll on the archers’ physicality, and Dr Arvind Yadav, the team physio states that a systematic development for the athletes is required for the archers to regain their fitness, and it will take somewhat around one to one and a half months of training.

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Its about gradual progression: Archery team physio

The precautionary guidelines and health protocols , set by the SAI and state govt has been implemented in the national camp, the first step of which is a two week isolation period for all athletes before hitting their drills. However, Dr Arvind Yadav states that the archers need to resume their training lightly.

“The archers will return to the training after completing their mandatory 14-day quarantine period. We have to make sure to put some rope around the athletes and make them understand that they can’t go really hard on themselves,” Dr Yadav spoke to Times of India.

“They need to have all those muscles activated before undertaking any activity. They need to build up and get their bodies in tune with the requirements of the training.”

“It’s about gradual progression and good warm-ups and that’s something we will be emphasising as the training resumes. It will be challenging for archers to immediately find their rhythm after the lockdown and they will require at least 4-6 weeks to get back to match fitness,” the physio added.

“Overall, things look extremely good,” says the archery physio

Dr Yadav also provided some insight on how he plans to bring his pupils back to peak form in proper method.

“For instance,” he continued, “we can’t force the archers straight out of the block. We have to do it in a phased manner. It was satisfactory to see that they were performing routine fitness work and short distance shooting even during the lockdown.”

During the five month long break, the archers were all in contact with the doctor, which has been a plus point before the resumption of training in the camp.

“We had always been communicating with them. So, if there were problems, we had been rectifying them. Overall, things look extremely good to me and I am happy with their fitness level after reporting to the camp,” Dr Yadav concluded.

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