New Delhi: Not all Tokyobound Australian athletes have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Apart from the claim by the authorities and officials, men’s free style wrestlers, Ravi Dahiya (57kg; in PIC) and Deepak Punia (86kg), will reach Tokyo ‘vaccinated partial’ with covishield.
The authorities failed to regulate the second dose of the covishield in Russia, where the two wrestlers practiced for the Olympics in the city of Vladikavkaz along with fellow Grappler Bajrang Punia (65kg).
Bajrang has completed his vaccination course in India before leaving for Russia.
Their three wrestlers and personal coaches will reach Tokyo on Thursday.
Russia has provisions for Sputnik V vaccines and decided by Indian authorities here to provide Ravi and Deepak with their second covishield dose at the Indian Embassy in Moscow.
However, it did not happen.
So, the wrestler is the only one left without full vaccination among 126 strong sports contingents in the country for Tokyo.
Both have received the first dose of Covishield in India and are scheduled to get the second in Poland after their participation in the Polish open ranking tournament in Warsaw (June 8-13).
Then, Ravi and Deepak demanded to be transferred to the city of Vladikavkaz, because the duo could not find quality sparring partners in Warsaw.
Polish vaccination policy made it difficult for wrestlers to receive their second covishield shots.
However, the authorities soon realized that regulating their second dose in Russia was both Herculean’s duties.
President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Narinder Dhruv Batra, has claimed during media interactions earlier this month that all Indian athletes will be fully vaccinated before their arrival in Tokyo.
“I assure you that on July 10, all contingents and officials – will vaccinate double,” he said.