Without any COVID-19 cases from the community for over a month, the Bhutan Olympic Committee (BOC) decides to allow all sports tournaments to resume from coming Monday. This was shared on their Facebook page earlier today.
The BOC temporarily deferred all tournaments in the country until the end of this month to discourage unnecessary gatherings.
With the BOC announcing the resumption of all sports tournaments, various federations and organisers can now restart their tournaments from next week onwards. Due to the recent lockdown, the Bhutan Women’s National Championship, BFF Club Futsal Championship, Thimphu Open Football Championship, and the Interdepartmental tournament organised by the RCSC had to be temporarily suspended and failed to resume.
Sharing the news, the committee also reminded that private tournament organisers must route their proposals through relevant federations to process approval from the committee. And for tournaments in other districts, organisers must seek approval from their respective Dzongkhag COVID-19 Task Force. The BOC, however, reminds that all tournaments in the capital will be monitored by the committee. Similarly, the Dzongkhag COVID-19 Task Force will monitor the sports tournaments in other districts.
And sharing the protocol for the conduct of tournaments and championships, the committee says all tournaments should be held behind closed doors. Likewise, security and safety officials must be deployed outside the venue to monitor and disperse people who may attempt to enter. All National Sports Federations and Organisers must have a designated COVID-19 focal person with some level of training in COVID-19 safety and precautionary protocols.
In the event of non-compliance or breach of the protocols, BOC will cancel or blacklist the tournament and organisers. Further, the National COVID-19 Task Force will also be informed for further necessary action.
Meanwhile, according to the BOC, the restrictions on the number of players for archery and khuru will also be eased. For now, only 10 players were allowed to participate in these games.
Passang Dorji
