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Sumit Antil after getting gold medal at Tokyo Paralympics. (FILE)
The window for athletes to train is shrinking in and around the National Capital Region because of toxic air in winter and searing summers. As the country makes a pitch for the 2036 Olympics, The Indian Express spoke to coaches and athletes from a wide range of sports — boxing, wrestling, athletics and para-athletics, cycling, shooting, hockey and also experts — on the impact of the conditions on health and training. International badminton stars, in Delhi last week for the India Open, have complained to the International Olympic Committee about the air pollution, and have cited health concerns.
Sumit Antil writes:
My training base is Sonepat but this place also has bad AQI. In winters, though most of the training happens indoors (in the gymnasium) for javelin throwers as it is the off season. But when we do practice throws outdoors, we face the issue. It does have an effect on our body as well as health. We get tired and recovery is slower when we train outdoors. So the focus is training indoors and using air purifiers as much as possible when indoors. For most throwers, the months of November to February are off season in Europe too. So the training intensity is not that high. But I have to spend 24 hours in the high AQI levels, both indoor or outdoor. We try to increase the intake of Vitamin C as well antioxidants in our diet.
In the summer, it gets too hot. I am getting a new training facility (indoor) made here. But then I can afford that. In summers, temperatures touch close to 44-46 degrees and it means we also have to change our training sessions to late evening or early morning. While the body gets warmed up quickly in summers, the high intensity training in summers means that we sweat a lot and we have to make sure that we get proper hydration.
(Javelin thrower Sumit Anil is a two-time Paralympic and three-time world para champion. He spoke to Nitin Sharma)
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Simran vomits and also keeps coughing for a long time: Coach Gajendra Singh
Gajendra Singh writes:
For sprinters like Simran, the pollution levels take a toll on the body. In training when we do 300-metre easy sprints under 42 seconds, it results in a lot of stress on the body. And when we do such repeated sprints, Simran vomits and also keeps coughing for a long time. These are the symptoms that most of the sprinters as well athletes face but then that’s Delhi. We have been training here since long. The irony is that when Simran competes abroad she performs well in good AQI conditions because she has trained in polluted air. Yes, it’s a huge disadvantage that we have in these months but then there is nothing we can do.
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We make our training programme after looking at the AQI data over mobile phone apps or the handheld AQI meters. Diet also remains the primary focus. The focus is on including alkaline foods, like broccoli. So that the body copes up with these weather conditions and it does not hamper our training.
(Gajendra Singh, husband and coach of Simran Sharma, a Paralympics bronze medalist in the 200 metres. Gajendra spoke to Nitin Sharma)
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