New Delhi, Mar 17 (IANS): The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Tuesday decided to postpone all national camps, except for those where athletes are being trained as part of Tokyo Olympics preparation amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. It has also decided to suspend academic training in National Centre of Excellence and STCs till further order.

"This is just a temporary and precautionary step for the safety of our sportspersons. I appeal to all our young athletes not to be disheartened. We will resume the academic trainings soon after assessing the situation," said Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on his Tiwtter handle.

So far, 126 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported in India and three people have lost their lives.

Almost, all the sporting activities in the country have been suspended as per the guidelines of the health ministry.

The Sports Ministry has already made it clear that all sporting events should be cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. And if it is unavoidable, the events should be held behind closed doors so as to avoid mass gatherings.