PSC: PH sports, changed forever by virus, will restart with individual events

Sports that are not big on physical contact will be the first ones out of the gates in a postpandemic Philippines: running, cycling, badminton, golf, lawn tennis and beach volleyball readily fit that criteria.

That’s according to Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chair William Ramirez who said on Saturday the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic will “reboot all protocols and framework for sports,” at least as far as the agency is concerned.

“Individual sports, that should be the safest sports,” Ramirez told the Inquirer. “Running, biking, badminton, volleyball, lawn tennis singles and golf could be played also.”

For Ramirez, golf will have to be played “without caddies and umbrella girls and others.”

The PSC had earlier stressed that until a cure is discovered, sports in general will have to take the back seat. All PSC-organized sports events have been scrapped for the rest of 2020.

“This virus crisis will change sports perspective and directions,” Ramirez said. “Now even the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 2021 Vietnam Southeast Asian Games will be affected without vaccines.”

That’s why the PSC is putting up an IT infrastructure to facilitate coaches and athletes education especially those based in the provinces.

“Even if the vaccine comes, we will have new plans and protocols,” Ramirez said. “Leading, teaching and coaching in sports will have to change.”

Ramirez said that in these times, it’s important that all athletes, whether professional or amateur, imbibe “self-awareness, ingenuity, compassion and positive attitude, and willingness to fight to the end.”

Several sports elsewhere in the world have already begun initiating sanctioned activities, with Taiwan and South Korea even getting their professional baseball leagues off the ground. Both countries have had marked success in dealing with COVID-19. Taiwan, in fact, has already started letting fans into the stadiums.

UFC, meanwhile, is pushing through with a fight card in Florida while the NBA has allowed teams to open training facilities that would allow players to do voluntary supervised workouts.