Sports Federations welcome lifting of ban on non-contact sports

An announcement by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that allows the staging of non-contact sporting activities has been applauded by some federation heads.

In his tenth address on the coronavirus pandemic, delivered on Sunday night, President Akufo-Addo announced that events of certain sporting disciplines can be held while others including football remain suspended until July 31.

“I have by order of Executive Instrument [EI] provided for these new directions and extended the suspension of the remaining public gatherings as set out in EI.64 of 16th March until 31st July," the president said.

“Some non-contact sport such as golf, tennis, swimming have been given the green light to restart”.

Reacting to this development in an interview with www.ghanaweb.com, the President of the Ghana Golf Association Mike Aggrey, described the announcement as a perfect response to a proposal they sent to government some weeks ago regarding the reopening of golf grounds.

He noted that preparations for ensuring safety at the various golf grounds in the country have already been implemented in anticipation of the opening.

“We are excited the President has finally responded. It’s something that we’ve been looking forward to. We were out of action for some nine to twelve weeks and as a result, the players are now out of form. We have reacted immediately and asked the golf clubs to open. Because it has been long in coming, we have already made preparation in making sure that the reopening will be seamless.

“We have electronic payment systems. We have hygienic protocols in place and we’ve got other enhanced protocols to make sure that we play golf safely. We have been making these preparations for the two months so we are ready”, he said.

The President of the Ghana Badminton Association Evans Yeboah indicated his excitement with the news which he says comes as a huge relief to them.

He assured that the safety measures will be strictly followed at any badminton event held within the coronavirus period.

“It’s a big relief because we are individual and non-contact sport. The President in his speech clearly mentioned that we can go ahead and have our training sessions and activities with the appropriate social distancing and hygienic protocols. What we have done is to provide our own guidelines for our membership and shared interest groups”, he said. The General-Secretary of the Ghana Athletics Association remarked that the removal of the restrictions paves way for the GAA to organize some of its competitions and training.

He said that the Executive Committee of the association will meet in the coming days to deliberate on holding competitions in safety and COVID-free environment.

“It’s a big relief for us. We were all waiting to hear what the President will say so once he has given green light for non-contact sports and fortunately our sport fall within that category we can’t say much but to say thank you to the president. We will meet as an executive committee to put in place all the preventive and security protocols before we get going with competitions. We have told the athletes they can start training”.

“Within August or September, we should organize our first circuit either in Tamale or Kumasi. We will have to give the athletes sometime to train and come up in fitness and shape. It may take two months or less.

Meanwhile, the Sports Ministry is expected to announce guidelines for the organization of sporting of activities in the coming days.