The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
SPORTS that are deemed to be less hazardous will be allowed to resume as from tomorrow under the country’s revised coronavirus lockdown regulations announced by President Mnangagwa yesterday.
The President stated that only sports seen as less likely to result in any harm to those taking part would be allowed to be played again.
Sporting activity has been prohibited in the country since the end of March because of measures in place to stop the spread of Covid-19.
“Low risk sporting codes, as will be outlined in the Statutory Instrument, shall be allowed to take place,’’ President Mnangagwa said.
According to the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, low risk sports are the ones where there is no contact, where physical distancing is possible and there will be less risk if physical distancing is practiced by athletes and coaches.
According to consultations that took place between the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), Zimbabwe National Paralympic Committee, Zimbabwe Olympic Committee and national sports associations, the low risk sports that could resume during the level two lockdown meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as per the consultative document are archery, pool, swimming, athletics, rowing, equestrian, fencing, golf, polo, motorsport/BMX, shooting, tennis, chess, darts, drafts, goal ball (visually impaired), cricket and table tennis.
However, Zimbabwe Cricket at the beginning of the month declared that they had ended their season prematurely with no winners for their premier competitions, the Logan Cup as well as the Pro50 Championship. With cricket, the second biggest sport in the country being classified as being low risk, ZC acting managing director, Givemore Makoni said contracts for domestic players had expired at the end of April and since they are working on a tight budget, they were not going back on the decision to void the season.
“We will review our situation, we are considering a national league club competition for winter. We are also looking at running our national academy, our director of cricket will release a statement soon,’’ Makoni said.
Zimbabwe are meant to host Afghanistan at the end of this month but chances of that tour going ahead are slim.
Afghanistan are also on lockdown which means that country’s cricketers cannot travel to Zimbabwe. However, Afghanistan are keen to play Zimbabwe ahead of their participation in the Twenty20 World Cup scheduled for Australia in October.
