Volleyball plans September return

MATHEWS NDANDULA writes PROFESSIONAL volleyball is set to make a return next month if health officials give the go ahead, Zambia Volleyball Association (ZVA) eyes September to resume the national league. In an interview, the association general secretary Gift Chisekela said health officials have so far been engaged to inspect sports venues before the league resumes.  “As Zambia Volleyball Association we have been working hand in hand with national public health officers we’ve been in the past two days gone around the sports venues of our affiliates just to see the compliance levels and what our affiliate needs to put in place in order to avoiding the spread of the Covid-19,” he said. Chisekela said safety of athletes was a priority hence the call in making sure that the playing field and participants adhere to the health guidelines. “I think so far some teams have done well, though others are yet to put in place the measures through the guidelines that we had provided to them, our aim is to make sure that all the athletes and gyms are safe before we resume our activities because health comes first before anything else so even as it is our core business as an Association is that our players are fit and healthy,” he said. “We are doing everything to make sure that health measures are implemented and everything is going on well our targeted month before the numbers of Covid-19 raised was August that is when we were supposed to resume activities but I think for the past 60 days, Covid-19 numbers have been increasing.” He said the sports body was now working to ensure a September return and had even considered hosting a tournament in October but this would be dependent on the health situation. Chisekela indicated that affiliates across the provinces were also cautious in resuming activities and were expected to adhere to public health guidelines to ensure that volleyball players were protected. “Most of them have not yet resumed games, just like us they are worried about the safety of their players so as much as they were given a go ahead they’re looking at what was on the ground. Although a few, who have started like in Central Province, I feel they’ve really done well because it’s in the army barracks so they’re adhering to the guidelines that we provided to them,” he stated. The Sun