The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved the return of non-combat sports after sporting activities were suspended as a result of COVID-19 pandemic in March.

It also approved the use of recreational parks for supervised physical exercise only.

It emphasised recreational parks are not to be used for social interaction purposes, asking those unable to enforce this to remain closed.

The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr. Sani Aliyu, disclosed these during its briefing in Abuja.

“For recreational parks/communal sports, restrictions are removed on outdoor communal non-contact sports and the use of recreational parks for supervised physical exercise, not for social interactions.

“For recreational parks that are unable to enforce this, we expected them to remain closed.

“For outdoor non-contact sports, this includes lawn tennis, table tennis, squash, badminton, cycling, athletics, golf, polo, para-athletics, cricket and other non-contact outdoor communal activities, in the event that people are not certain, please contact the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports for further guidance,” he said.

Some other non-contact sports are cricket, tennis, badminton, golf, bowling, bowls, swimming, diving, gymnastics, sprinting, running.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the return of non contact sports.

“On behalf of Sports loving Nigerians, I wish to thank President Buhari, through the PTF on COVID-19 for approving the return of non-contact sports in the country.