Health Concerns, Cost of Safeguards Hamper Return of Local Boxing
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 14 Jun 2020
Some big promoters are eager and willing to effect the return of boxing in the country but their shouldering the high cost of health safeguards in relation to Covid, particularly the conduct of polymerise chain reaction or PCR test for boxers is holding them back.
This was learned from Chairman Abraham Mitra of the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) who also reported that the GAB proposed guidelines on the resumption of boxing and other professional sports submitted recently to Inter Agency Task Force on Infectious Disease are yet to be approved.
Mitra said the Department of Health- led IATF has raised questions and concerns particularly about the conduct of contact sports.
"The safety aspect medyo hirap kasi full contact like pawis and dugo plus yakapan. Big problem lang talaga resumption kasi sabi nga ng DOH, all forms of transmission pwede mangyari kasi may laway dugo yakapan and walang social distancing sa contact sports," Mitra texted this writer.
When told that pro boxing has already been resumed in the US and certain other countries, Mitra said that it became possible with health and other safeguards have been put into place.
"Pwede (din iyon dito) like abroad (kapag) merong testing and isolation before the bouts pero hindi kaya ng mga promoters magbayad (sa pcr testing)", Mitra said.
PCR tests are the much favored method in detecting Covid infection for they are used to directly detect the presence of an antigen rather than the body's immune response or antibodies. By detecting viral RNA which will be present in the body before antibodies form or symptoms of the disease are present, the tests can tell whether or not someone has the virus early on.
Done through screening vast swathes of nasopharengial swab samples from within a population, PCR gives a good indication of who is infected so that they and the people they got in contact with can be isolated or quarantined to get a clearer picture and break the chain of infection.
Mitra said in countries where boxing has made a return, not only boxers are tested and quarantined but also all involved in the event including their corners and even the ring officials.
That would entail a huge cost on the part of the promoters who even stand to earn lesser revenue due to lesser number of live spectators on account of the restrictions on physical distancing.
Perhaps the private, particularly business, sector can pitch in.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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