THERE is no sugar coating of the anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic which has taken over two million lives worldwide. It is even more searing in the sporting fraternity, since the forced hiatus caused a considerable amount of inactivity.

Locally, the pandemic has halted practically every sport in its path and has since created a cloud of doubt and uncertainty that is bewildering to athletes, coaches and spectators. Though these athletes and supporters are raring to go, satisfying requisite national safety restriction must first be met.

The drastic change in the chain of command sees these associations presenting their fully documented plan on how they intend to prevent the further spread of the virus during the staging of an event/tournament, to the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF), Ministry of Sport and Ministry of Health.

Once it is approved, then an association is free to pursue its next step. However, once that event is over, a reapplication to stage another event is required. The NCTF has the authority to put a screeching halt to an event once it sees that the pandemic parameters have been breached, even if approval had already been granted.

In the early stages of the NCTF, the associations wrote and presented the full works of their plans with the intent of trying to resume training activities. Some sports were lucky enough to pass the mark, while others, like the full-contact sports, have not gotten the opportunity to resume.

This led numerous associations to try their best to get their highest level of athletes back to regular training in the hopes of attending compulsory international events. The silver lining saw this request being granted to the majority of those that revamped their calendar of activities.

Resumption in activities included Athletics, Golf, Lawn Tennis, Basketball, Football, Cricket, Swimming, Table Tennis, Cycling and Chess, but these were all at the highest level in the country.

But, the restrictions meant, no fans, shortened events, regular testing and sanitising and a dramatic shift in times for regular events.

The hapless sports included Rugby, Motor Racing, Volleyball, Horse Racing, Hockey, Squash, and Karate. They have all made attempts to have regular activities resumed but nothing in the near future signalled normality.

However, with commencement of administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, approved by the Government of Guyana, it will be interesting to see if these sports will have an opportunity to finally resume activities like before.