An aspiring Border Olympian has had her preparation impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
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Albury hockey export Jocelyn Bartram is in line to earn Olympic selection for the first time at Tokyo 2020 in July and is hopeful the Hockeyroos' campaign won't be jeopardised.
The national women's hockey team was forced to postpone two Pro League matches in China this month due to risks associated with the virus.
Australia welcomes Argentina for two matches in Perth on Friday and Saturday, before travelling to Europe to take on Germany and the Netherlands later in the month.
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"The advice at the moment is to take all of our usual travel precautions when we head over to Europe and later on when we head to the USA (in May)," Bartram said.
"Just making sure we're keeping up our personal hygiene to help decrease the risk of anyone contracting it.
"Our head medical officer is giving us almost weekly updates on it to keep us up to date with Hockey Australia's protocols and thoughts are around it.
"It's a shame we had to postpone our games against China and won't be traveling there on our way to Europe because they are in are our pool at the Olympics and it's good to get some practice against them in the lead-up.
"Hopefully we'll be able to organise a game later on and meet somewhere else to play them."
The Hockeyroos will officially announce their squad in June, around six weeks out from their first game at the Olympics on July 26.
Border trap shooter James Willett is in a similar boat with his preparation.
The Mulwala export won the third Olympic qualifying event in Melbourne at the weekend and is in the box seat to earn selection for his second Games.
If successful, Willett is scheduled to travel with the Australian team for a test event in Tokyo at the end of April, with more international competitions to follow.
"If the worldwide stuff happens (with coronavirus), that event may be affected, but we haven't heard anything as far as that goes," he said.
"We're still on track as far as our plans go and we'll have to wait and see what the World Health Organisation has to say as we get closer to that (test) event."
Willett's final nomination trial is on March 22 where the team will be finalised.
Beau Greenway
Beau Greenway is a journalist at The Border Mail. He likes to tell the stories of great people in our communities. Email: beau.greenway@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Beau Greenway is a journalist at The Border Mail. He likes to tell the stories of great people in our communities. Email: beau.greenway@austcommunitymedia.com.au
