By Bockarie Allieu
30 September, 2020 (SALONE TIMES)
FREETOWN – Few months back the Ministry of Sports in Sierra Leone banned all sports activities indefinitely. The announcement was made when the Coronavirus breakout in Sierra Leone which according to experts could be easily transferred through body contact. The ban on sporting activities was a worldwide pronouncement which led all national teams preparing for international competitions to stop training. The disease also led the organizers of the 2020 Olympic in Japan to postpone the games to 2021. Howvere, as the spread of the disease has begun to minimize in the country and with dates of international competitions out, the Sierra Leone Sports Ministry met with the NaCOVERC authorities to see how to ease restrictions on sports. After the meeting on Friday 25th September 2020, the Ministry of Sports made a press release that on the advice of the National COVID Emergency Response Centre (NaCOVERC), the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Authority (NSA) the ban on preparation and training for pending international competitions should be lifted. The release further stated that Sporting associations, coaches, athletes, referees, umpires, judges, sports administrators, among others are strongly advised to follow all health directives and precautionary measures prescribed by NaCOVERC. Based on the above prescriptions, the release stated that staff of the Ministry of Sports and NAS will regularly monitor the trainings and may prescribe additional measures to avoid the risk of transmission of the COVID19. Any other information based on the ban on sports they said will be communicated to all when the time arises.
Receiving the message, the Sierra Leone Cricket Association (SLCA) thanked the government for easing the restrictions on sports activities. According to the Secretary General of the association Daniel Koroma, the release was welcome news to them as they already have four pending international competitions which was to take place this year but has now been postponed to next year. Among the four tournaments he said, they have the senior male team tournament, U-19 Boys world cup qualifying, senior male and U-17 Girls tournament. Daniel said they have alerted the coaches of the various teams to prepare to start training on the 1st October 2020. On the issues of the preventive measures put in place, he said Cricket is not contact sports like many others. Notwithstanding, he said there will be Veronica buckets at the grounds for the players to wash their hands frequently. He went on that they will make sure they enough training equipment so that they will exchange equipment like gloves and pads. Face masks he said will be mandatory for all coaches, executive members, team coordinators and so on. He though said he wish the government will soon allow them commence to league matches soon so that they will use the league to scout out players for the four national teams.
