By Waylon Galvez
The government on Friday gave professional fighters of boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts the green light to train and compete under strict health guidelines as the country continues to fight the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Games Amusements Board (GAB) Chairman Baham Mitra said the tripartite Joint Administrative Order (JAO) of GAB, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Department of Health have approved the guidelines for these sports activities.
Training and events for these sports are now allowed in areas under Modified General Community Quarantine, or MGCQ.
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the Philippine Football League have earlier been allowed to train under rigid health guidelines.
“Several years from now, people will study what we did for the sports re-start,” said Mitra. “And we would want to hold our heads high and say we did it the right way without shortcuts.”
More than a hundred local boxers who have been active on the local scene were badly affected by the pandemic.
Last week, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) through the initiative of Sen. Bong Go and Mitra distributed financial and relief assistance to more than 200 Filipino boxers.
Through the guidance of the government’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), Under the JAO guideline, it includes for boxers, promoters and officials to attend COVID-19 Basic Infection Control and Safety seminar, which is part of the event permit requirements.
The seminar is organized by GAB, and usually is given during the agency’s Kamustahan sa GAB weekly program. All licensed participants shall be required to attend the online seminar regarding COVID-19.
There are other important requirements, especially in holding events for a maximum of five bouts allowed by JAO/IATF. These include isolation of participants and swab testing for all involved in the event.
At the venues, safety conditions are a must with well-ventilated arenas, provision of the event quarantine/hotel facility, which will be the responsibility of the promoter to provide room assignments to be submitted and shown to the team for review and evaluation.
Also, if and when these fight events happen, the guideline prohibits fans to watch the matches – meaning these are ‘closed door’ fights.
As specified in the JAO protocol, everyone in the area must adhere to strict social distancing, hand hygiene including regular use of alcohol or hand sanitizers, as well as use of 3-ply fluid-resistant surgical masks.
Also, the proper social distancing of 6 1/2 feet apart must be observed at all times, including inside the locker rooms, which requires enough space to maintain social distancing.
Inside the ring or cage (for MMA), the only persons allowed are competitors and a referee. Before and after the fight, one promoter, one trainer (per participant), and medical official are also allowed.
Under normal circumstances, round girls and ring announcers are allowed, but not this time as per the protocols. Camera personnel are also not allowed in corners of the ring or cage while fight commentaries are to take place remotely.
