The Ministry of Youth, Sport and Recreation has outlined measures ought to be taken for some of the country’s sporting disciplines to resume in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.

All sporting activities are currently temporarily suspended amid the government-enforced lockdown to mitigate the spread of the novel pandemic.

In his latest state of the nation address though, President Emmerson Mnangagwa reduced the lockdown parameters to Level 2.

Through a memorandum in our possession, the Ministry laid a platform for the resumption of sport in the country by categorizing disciplines into three; low risk, medium risk and high risk.

“The Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation and its stakeholders notably the Sports and Recreation Commission, Zimbabwe Wrestling and Control Board, Zimbabwe National Paralympic Committee, Zimbabwe Olympic Committee and others are keen to resume sporting activities amid the Level 2 lockdown in the middle of the
Covid-19 pandemic. The anxiety came after realising that some sporting codes when carefully programmed can be implemented at the same time adhering to lockdown parameters pronounced by His Excellency.”

“Zimbabwe can systematically re-introduce the sporting events after strategically programming and planning for a smooth implementation. The aim is to provide an enabling platform for some sporting codes to hold training, competitions and continue their leagues amid the Covid-19 lockdown guided by precautionary measures pronounced and being enforced by the government. We aim to work in partnership with our usual stakeholders including medical experts and those that will be defined essential when implementing this strategy,” reads the memo.

Low risk sporting disciplines as indicated in the memorandum include tennis, shooting, athletics, swimming, darts, golf and chess.

Medium risk sporting codes include weight-lifting, badminton, softball and baseball while high risk ones include soccer, wrestling rugby and basketball.