GB Taekwondo athletes Jade Jones (white top) and Bianca Walkden have been training together at home during the lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic ©Instagram

GB Taekwondo's training base in Manchester is set to be reopened next week to allow elite athletes to return to training.

The base is set to reopen on Tuesday May 26, with around three quarters of elite athletes set to attend, as reported by Press Association.

Athletes in attendance will be supported by minimum numbers of staff with almost all athletes limited to individual programmes.

Two Olympic medallists, Jade Jones and Bianca Walkden, will be able to spar with each other, as the pair have been living together in the same household during the coronavirus lockdown.

Jones and Walkden have posted videos on social media showing themselves exercising together at home during the lockdown.

"The athletes have been pushing to get back into training because they like the environment and they are such hard trainers," said GB Taekwondo's chief executive Matt Archibald.

"We’re in a positive position and no-one seems to be raising any barriers to restarting – there are just processes that are ongoing but they’re getting knocked over one by one.

"We’re confident that we are going to get three-quarters of the squad back in phase one."

GB Taekwondo's training base in Manchester is set to be reopened to elite athletes next week ©GB Taekwondo
GB Taekwondo's training base in Manchester is set to be reopened to elite athletes next week ©GB Taekwondo

Strict rules mean the athletes will attend the National Taekwondo Centre in small groups, and must undergo risk assessments and antibody tests before returning.

Coaches and staff allocated to each group will wear personal protective equipment, while the majority of essential support staff will continue to work remotely.

GB Taekwondo athletes are set to be among the first elite sportspeople within Olympic disciplines to return to training in the United Kingdom, with those based at multi-sport venues understood to be a few weeks away from returning.

Players at English Premier League football teams have returned to individual training this week, while members of England's men's cricket team are due to return to individual training this week.

All elite sport is suspended in England until June 1 at the earliest because of the coronavirus pandemic.

At today's United Kingdom Government briefing, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced that a taskforce was being set up to examine how to resume elite sport in England behind closed doors.