New Delhi, March 4 (IANS): In light of the global crisis caused by the outbreak of the highly contagious coronavirus, the Sports Ministry has asked the National Sports Federations (NSFs) to adhere to the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines before sending its athletes outside the country for training and international competitions.

"The Government has advised all National Sports Federations to exercise caution while planning foreign competitions and training for the teams and individual athletes in the light of the importance of some of these competitions which contribute to Olympic qualification. A copy of the advisory has been sent to all the NSFs," said the Sports Authority of India in a statement.

"An excerpt from the advisory issued to all NSFs reads: While the government understands the criticality of ranking tournaments and Olympic qualifiers, you would understand that the health of our athletes takes precedence. Therefore we would like to request the NSFs to adhere by the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines."

The outbreak of the disease has had a wide ranging impact on the sporting calendar with the possibility of conducting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on time now under the scanner. The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) announced earlier in the day that ranking points can be earned at the upcoming New Delhi World Cup because of the global epidemic.

The Asian qualifiers for wrestling and boxing needed to be shifted out of China. While the boxing qualifiers are underway in Amman, Jordan, the wrestling qualifiers have been postponed after Kazakhstan stated that it won't be able to host the competition in Bishkek.