Adeyinka Adedipe
Stakeholders have been warned not to expect the sports sector to return to normal immediately after the defeat of the COVID-19 as a lot of time will be needed to fix the monumental damage suffered by the sector.
President of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Sam Ocheho told NationSport that a lot of business would begin to count their losses after the pandemic before they start mapping out ways of bouncing back.
“The pandemic will take its toll on sports and the economy at large but gradually things will start getting back to normal after the virus has been contained. So, it means that full recovery will be a long way off, however, full recovery will happen and the industry will learn from it and boom again,” added the former chairman of the Lagos State Handball Association.
He added: “Post COVID 19, a lot of businesses will count their losses and try to start from the scratch. I don’t expect stadia to be filled to capacity immediately. I expect a psychological warfare in the minds of people to continue for a while before stadia starts getting filled again.”
Former Vice President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Lanre Glover stated that the pandemic has had economic, social and physical effect on the world, noting that the economic affect is more profound with the operational aspect of sports taking a big bash.
“On the social aspect, most organised sports provide an opportunity to let off steam after the day’ s work, while athletes are expected to be in top physical shape all year round. With COVID-19, it is virtually impossible for athletes to train properly. There is also no motivation to train as all major sporting events are cancelled,” stated the former President of the HFN.
According to Glover, sports might be the last sector to return to normalcy after COVID-19 as large crowd at stadia could be a recipe for the resurgence of the virus.
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