Amid coronavirus threat, Indian boxing contingent to leave for Jordon earlier than planned

Boxing Federation of India's Executive Director RK Sacheti on Tuesday said that there is no need to panic and the boxing contingent will leave for Jordon in a day or so for the upcoming Boxing qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

His remarks came as both the men's and women's boxing teams training in Assisi, Italy had a scare with the Milan airport shutting down in the wake of the coronavirus.

After this, India's High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva said that the boxers need to leave for Jordon at the earliest to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics boxing qualifiers.

"We were leaving on Friday, but I think we need to prepone. If we do not leave at the earliest, then we might be stuck here. If they close the airport, then we would not be able to go for the qualifiers," Santiago said.

However, RK Sacheti clarified that the federation has talked with the officials in Jordon and confirmed that the team would be leaving either today or tomorrow for Jordon.

"We talked with officials in Jordon, they said send your team down to Jordon. The team will go to Jordon, as per schedule they had to leave on 28th, officials in Jordon said no need to panic. We are ready, we have already blocked the seats," Sacheti told ANI.

"Rome airport is completely operational, we will get information in an hour so as to when the team will depart. The team can fly down to Jordon either today or tomorrow. The team is currently in the Assisi Olympic centre," he added.

Earlier, the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Boxing Task Force (BTF) shifted the Olympics boxing qualifiers to Jordan after the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

The Asian/Oceanian boxing qualifying event for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will now be held from March 3 to 11 in Jordan, Amman.

The event was originally scheduled to take place in Wuhan, China, from February 3 to 14.