Sporting federations has been given the green light to host all sporting events.

This was after sporting bodies were asked to cancel all games due to the measles outbreak last month.

The call came from the Fijian National Sports Commission, Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports who all supported the plea by the Ministry of Health.

Commission executive chairman Peter Mazey said health and safety of the players and fans are paramount.

“The Ministry of Health has confirmed the lifting of ban on sporting events and large gatherings,” Mazey said.

“However, they continue to recommend that any teams or athletes coming in for events should ensure they are inoculated.”

Despite the setback, Mazey said they have accommodated all programmes into this year’s schedule.

The cancelling of several events in December throughout Oceania including football, beach volleyball, grasshoppers netball tournament, squash and a marathon event has an effect on all those athletes who were training for events.

“The Commission’s programmes scheduled during the time of the ban have all been accommodated in 2020 and therefore we have not seen any major effect,” he said.

Olympics

He said Team Fiji funding has been allocated to 10 sports to assist them in their qualification for the Olympics.

“The majority will be competing in qualification events over the next three months which will then determine how many sports Fiji is represented in,” he added.

Mazey is also urging National Sports Organisation’s (NSO) to utilize opportunities provided by the Commission through the outreach programmes.

“We are calling on for NSO’s to develop their community coaching accreditation programmes to enable coaches at community levels get a foot in the door in their coaching pathways,” he added.

“Many sports are centered on the main centres so talent identification is restricted to these areas only.

“The Commission aims to expand these talent identification windows through community based competitions.”

Edited by Osea Bola

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