Coronavirus has dashed speed queen Florence Barla’s hopes to participate in the 19th Asian Junior Athletics Championship in Bangkok.

The high-profile event, which was scheduled from May 14 to 17, was cancelled by the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) earlier this week.

Florence, 19, a cadet of Jharkhand State Sports Promotion Society (JSSPS), was preparing for the Asian meet under her mentor at the Mega Sports Complex in Ranchi for the Asian fixture.

Mentor Captain Sanjay Ghosh said over phone from Ranchi that his ward was also supposed to compete in the 18th Federation Cup Junior National Championship in Bhopal from April 6-8, which was supposed to be the final selection trial for the Asian meet in Bangkok.

“But the Indian Athletics Federation (AFI) has cancelled the Bhopal event due to coronavirus till further notice.

“This means that Florence’s wait for the Asian Championship will be inordinately delayed,” he added.

Ghosh said his ward was scheduled to compete in the 400m individual sprint.

“Florence’s was in great form, supremely fit and stood a very bright chance of claiming the gold at the Federation Cup in Bhopal,” Ghosh said.

The coach said he wanted Florence to bag a medal at the Asian Championship and was preparing her for it.

Florence, who hails from Gumla, also fulfils the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) entry standards and qualification procedure.

The timing for qualification in women’s 400m individual is 54.85 seconds and Florence has already achieved 54.73 seconds while claiming gold in the 400m category at the International Invitational Athletics Championship in Kazakhstan last year.

Nothwithstanding the cancellation of the Asian Meet, Ghosh is working on the athletes to keep them in fine tune.

“The daily training sessions are on,” Ghosh added.