Don't lose spirit, focus on your training, Kiren Rijiju appeals to athletes amid COVID-19 outbreak

File photo (Twitter/@KirenRijiju)

Minister of State Youth Affairs & Sport on Monday (March 16, 2020) appealed to all the athletes in the country to not lose their spirits, to keep practicing and to focus on their training.

Rijiju took to Twitter and posted a slow-motion video where he's playing football and showing his skills.

The minister captioned the video as, "Due to coronavirus, sporting events and competitions are postponed temporarily but I appeal all our athletes not to lose the spirit, keep practicing and focus on your training."

Due to coronavirus, sporting events and competitions are postponed temporarily but I appeal all our athletes not to lose the spirit, keep practicing and focus on your training... pic.twitter.com/UVSONEO5Wh — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) March 16, 2020

Many sports events in Cricket, Football, Golf, Basketball, Rugby, Badminton have been suspended all over the world in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Cricket events in India like the Indian Premier League, India-South Africa ODI series, BCCI's domestic games have been postponed to further dates.

Coronavirus positive cases in India has jumped to 116 by Monday afternoon, Maharashtra being the worst-hit state with 38 positive cases.

Two people have so far died of the disease in the country. 

According to the worldometers.info, the total number of coronavirus cases in the world have reached more than 1,70,000 and there have been around 6,524 deaths until the afternoon of March 16, 2020