President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), Ben Nunoo Mensah, says it is safer for the non-team sports to restart their activities than the contact-sports during this coronavirus pandemic as social distancing has been prioritized.
All sporting activities were suspended in March this year following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
President Nana Akufo-Addo in his 10th address on measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus allowed the non-contact sport to resume their normal activities by adhering to the safety protocols.
According to Ben Nunoo Mensah, the non-team sport can only begin training and they will not require a lot of measures to restart, unlike the contact-team sport.
“During our discussions, we agreed that team sports and spectators cannot be allowed now.
So we came down to team sport and non-team sport. The non-team sport can easily open up for training whilst for the team sport, it requires some complex measures such as testing players, spectators and also they must be quarantined at a particular place which makes it difficult”, he told Ohene-Bampoe Brenya on Happy Sports on Happy 98.9FM.
READ MORE: COVID-19: Sporting activities suspended until July 31
He added that sports returning to normalcy will take time if there isn’t a vaccine any time soon.
“COVID-19 has come to stay and normal sporting activities will take time to return if we do not get a vaccine.
Meanwhile, The Ministry of Youth and Sports has announced the sporting activities that can resume their normal activities.
A statement from the Sports Ministry read: “State of Ghana’s Sports according to Presidential Directives issued last night, May 31, 2020, by President Akufo-Addo in the fight against COVID-19: With the exception of sports events, competitions or games (i.e., NO SPECTATORS OR FANS), individual, non-contact sports can go ahead. They include;
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Table Tennis
- Tennis
- Golf
- Powerlifting
- Weight lifting
- Cycling
- Draughts
- Para Sports (individual non-contact para-sports)
- Rowing and Canoeing
- Baseball and softball
- Horse racing
- Individuals exercising within our stadia
On the other hand, Team, contact sports including football, hockey and volley remain suspended till July 31, 2020.
