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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

WORLD Athletics together with the International Athletics Foundation (IAF) has availed $500 000 to support professional athletes experiencing financial hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the fund will be used to assist athletes who have lost most  of their income in the last few months due to the suspension of international competitions as the world battles to contain the pandemic which as of Friday midday had infected over 3,2 million persons worldwide while over 230 000 had died.

Coe who also chairs the IAF, will chair an expert multi regional working group to assess the applications for assistance that will be submitted to the World Athletics’ six area associations.

The working group will meet to establish a process for awarding and distributing grants to individual athletes and to look at other ways to raise additional monies for the fund.

“I am in constant contact with athletes around the world and I know that many of them are experiencing financial hardship as a consequence of the shutdown of most international sports competition in the last two months. Our professional athletes rely on prize money as part of their income and we are mindful that our competition season, both the track and road is being severely impacted by the pandemic. We are hopeful that we will be able to stage at least some competition later this year but in the meantime we will also endeavour, through this fund and additional monies we intend to seek through friends of our sport, to help as many athletes as possible,” said Coe.