Olympics Tokyo Qualifiers
Olympic hopes dashed for Indian athletes
The Indian canoeing team has missed out on their final chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics due to the travel ban imposed on the country owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
Indian canoeing and kayaking - representative image (Source: IANS)
The Indian canoeing team has missed out on their final chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics due to the travel ban imposed on the country owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Asian Canoe Slalom Championships and Asian Canoe Sprint Championships were to be held from 30th April 2021 to 7th May 2021 at Pattaya, Thailand. The Indian team has been forced to miss out on both the events following the Thai government's travel ban on India due to the steep surge in covid-19 infections in the country.
The Asian Championships in Thailand was the last chance for the Indians to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. A 10-member Indian contingent was set to travel to Pattaya on 16th April 2021 as it was mandatory to complete 10 day quarantine before the event started, but all the direct flights to Thailand from India were cancelled just a day before the team was set to leave.
While the team did try to get into Pattaya via Dubai, a change in guidelines by the Thailand government last week meant that they had no options but to have their Olympics dream shattered.
