Kenya Hockey Union ready for sports return

The Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) says its ready to resume sports action pending a government green light.

Like other sporting activities in the country, hockey was not spared after it was called off in March when Kenya reported her first coronavirus case.

And with sporting activities slowly resuming globally, KHU secretary general Wycliffe Ongori said they have already developed a return to action protocols which they have submitted to the sports ministry.

“We are all set for resumption, we have come up with protocols that we have submitted to the Ministry and we are now waiting for the go-ahead. We have aligned our guidelines along the protocols developed by the Ministry of Health, International Hockey Federation and World Health Organization (WHO). What we have covered include sanitization of the changing rooms and the stadium as well as the setting up of temperature check points,” Ongori told Citizen Digital  Friday morning.

He also explained that fans will be barred from the stadium while at the same time the number of matches at the City Park stadium will be scaled down.

In the resumption draft guidelines released by the Sports Ministry a fortnight ago, hockey was classified as one of the contact sports with low risk of spreading the virus alongside football, handball and netball.

Similarly, in the proposals, the government urged the federations to conduct testing of players prior to competitions, an aspect Ongori said will be an uphill task.

“I think we are in support of the guidelines from the Ministry. We are  however concerned when it comes to testing because we will need assistance from the government,” said Ongori.

 In the meantime Ongori says they are now considering playing tournaments as an option of keeping the players fit as they await the resumption of sports.

“At the moment we have several options on the table, one of which is to have tournaments depending when we resume. We will still have a meeting with clubs and we will come up with an agreement on the matter,” he said.