Monaco, May 15 (IANS): World Athletics said on Friday that Olympic-bound athletes looking to avail funds from the welfare grant that it announced jointly with the International Athletics Foundation (IAF)must never have had an anti-doping violation.

A welfare fund of $500,000 was announced by the global athletics governing body and the IAF for helping athletes around the world who are facing financial hardships due to the coronavirus pandemic. Most major athletics events around the world, including and especially the Tokyo Olympics have been cancelled or postponed due to the global crisis caused by the pandemic that has infected over 4 million people and killed over 300,000 worldwide.

World Athletics in its statement listed out the criteria that the players must fulfill to avail the fund. "Must be qualified (by meeting the entry standard) for selection for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games," said World Athletics.

"Must have never had an anti-doping rule violation. Must be able to demonstrate a justifiable welfare need through significant loss of income in 2020 compared to 2019."

"The IAF has allocated a substantial sum to the fund, and we hope to raise more through private donations from friends of our sport, but it has become apparent that the resources must be focused on athletes who are likely to be competing at the Olympic Games in Tokyo next year and are now struggling to pay for basic necessities due to loss of income during the pandemic," said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.

"We know this is a stressful situation for many athletes and we are trying to provide meaningful assistance to as many as possible as quickly as possible so they can continue to train for the competition season we have now scheduled for August to October, and for next year's Olympics."