Bhakti Kulkarni, Goa’s leading chess player and world number sixty-seven is now at home working on her game. She says that there is so much of chess literature out there in the digital world that it would take one year to go through all of them. Literature on the start, the middle and end games are available. Bhakti is reading relevant literature now and training as she prepares for the world championship which is scheduled to be held in Belarus. Bhakti said “I am preparing very hard for the world championship but I have my doubts if it will be held in September because of the virus. I am now attending online classes with my coach and am also conducting online classes with my students who are based all over the world”. Bhakti participates in around twenty-two to twenty-five tournaments every year of which only two or three are in India. She said she enjoyed the traveling but right now she was enjoying the fact that she could just relax at home.
If chess involves hours and hours sitting in a chair and concentrating hard on the white and black squares then squash is on the other end of the spectrum. Physically one of the hardest on the body, one needs to be fit to be able to play at the national and international level. Samairah Raj Bhandare all of twelve who happens to be the state’s number one ranked player in the u-13 and u-15 category and one who also plays in the nationals has been practicing hard to maintain her fitness. Speaking to the Herald, she said “ Due to this lockdown I cannot practice on the court. But my coach says that I must do fitness to stay fit and get back to the game as soon as we are allowed to. I do two fitness routines in a day. In the morning at around 8.30, I warm up with skipping. After that, I do footwork exercises which my coach Mr. Rehman Hubli had taught me before the lockdown. For this, we have made a ladder with a red tape on the floor in our courtyard and all exercises are within this ladder. My father helps me and makes it a fun thing to do”.
She also follows the fitness schedule which is posted on the Goa Association of Squash group. She said “ Avinash sir decides the routine on a daily basis and I follow it in the evening at 6 pm. But before the evening exercises, I also do some running within the garden area. In the evening, my mother keeps time for me and watches over my routine. Since school sends us work online, I have to do that too. But every day I sit with my father and we watch some squash matches, the link of which Avinash sir posts on the WhatsApp group. My father also follows SquashSkills.com which is very popular with squash players”. A hectic schedule no doubt.
MMA fighter Nelson Paes is on a mission to keep everyone fit and active and spends time ensuring everyone is positive and motivated. He said “I conduct group classes online for the members of the gym and those who want to join. I like to keep myself busy. I can’t do much within the house but I am focused on maintaining my physical and mental fitness. I wake up in the morning and go for a run on a quiet road. We don’t really know what is going to happen in the future with all that is going on. I have to keep myself positive. I read, watch motivational movies and generally indulge in activities through the day”.
Then there is that other great passion in Goa, football. Everything has come to a standstill. For Mandar Rao Desai the captain of FC Goa it is time to be spent with the family and also helping out with the cleaning in the house. Mandar does his workout sessions at home to ensure he maintains fitness levels that are required to play the game at the highest level. Another teammate Saviour Gama is training at home. He said “I am exercising every day to maintain my fitness levels. To maintain my ball skills, I am kicking the ball against the wall and juggling it. Of course, it’s not all football, I am also spending time playing games like candy crush, watching movies and spending time with my family”.
Brendon Fernandes, one of FC Goa’s stalwarts, spends his time juggling the football and watching movies throughout the day. He said “I have watched so many movies, sometimes its four to five movies a day. I have watched movies in English as well as in Hindi. I enjoyed watching Devil Double and Punisher on Netflix”.
Everyone has to do whatever one needs to do to keep fit and sane in these strange times. And our Goan athletes are ensuring that they retain peak fitness not just to beat the Coronavirus, but to get back to their professional lives thereafter.
