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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter 

YOUTH, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry has cleared 24 out of 64 sport codes in the country to resume activities after the government relaxed lockdown restrictions on Monday.

The clearance favours less contact sports, leaving more popular sports played by the majority in limbo.

The number of sport codes classified as low risk increased by seven from 15 in the previous classification in January before the country went into a tighter lockdown as Covid-19 cases took an upward turn.

The ministry also gave the greenlight to a fairly new sport in the country, Woodball, which was only registered with the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) just over five years ago.

Woodball is a sport that was developed in Taiwan and played with a wooden mallet and wooden balls that has lot of similarities to putting in golf.

The objective of the sport is to strike the wooden balls through the gates.

It does not have any requirements on surface types and can be played indoors or outdoors, on grass, sand or asphalt surfaces.

The sport can be played in singles, doubles or a team of four to six players format.

“Pursuant to Cabinet approval and the publication of Statutory Instrument 61 of 2021 this Wednesday, 3^rd March, 2021, as read with Statutory Instrument 200 of 2020, the Sports and Recreation Commission (‘SRC’) advises that it has now been formally notified by the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts  and Recreation that the following national sport associations (NSAs) may resume their activities as outlined in their previously approved Covid-19 protocols taking into account national and World Health Organisation guidelines,” said the SRC in a statement on Wednesday night.

The listed NSAs have been advised and must acknowledge and accept the correspondence, health protocols and other conditions mentioned.

The SRC said if any of the sports are played at a sports club, bars and changing rooms are to remain closed and any available restaurants authorised to operate are to only accept take-away orders. Gyms remain closed.

While training has been allowed to resume under the given guidelines, competitions, however, must still be applied for separately through the SRC, which will submit its recommendations to the Minister for approval.

For local competitions, an application must be lodged 14 days, excluding weekends or holidays, prior to the intended competition date.

For regional and international competitions, the application must be submitted 30 days before the competition date.

“No competition in Zimbabwe, or travel outside of Zimbabwe shall take place without the written authorisation of the Minister in consultation with the Minister of Health and Child Care. The Sports and Recreation Commission will monitor all sports facilities and centres for compliance. Violations of health protocols and other stated conditions will result in the summary suspension of the relevant sport code and the prosecution of the offending persons or responsible officials,” the SRC said.

Sports given permission to resume

Archery, angling, cricket, equestrian, polo, shooting, swimming, woodball, aquatics, bass, cycling, rowing, polocrosse, tennis, triathlon, horse racing, badminton, athletics, chess, drafts (droughts), golf, motor sport, lawn bowls, table tennis