By Okechukwu Onuegbu
Ahead of My Anambra Super 8 tournament billed to commence on February 1, 2021, the Anambra State Football Association (ANSFA), Wednesday, commenced medical screening to ascertain the health status of players.
The Medicare holding at Dr Alex Ekwueme Square in Awka, with all players, coaches and other officials from the 27 participating clubs, is being sponsored by Aspire FC Adazi, the main benefactor of the tournament.
Speaking to newsmen, the head of medical team, Mr Oraegbunem Chukwuagozie, a licensed nurse, said the medical screening included height and weight index, blood pressure, blood sugar level and others like coronavirus pandemic test been conducted by a team from the NCDC.
According to Chukwuagozie, the medical care was aimed at establishing the health status of the beneficiaries for proper advice which is capable of reducing casualties in the event.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Super 8 Tournament Committee, Prince Oliver Ndigwe, said that about 756 people were respected to benefit from the scheme due to their various roles in the tournament.
Ndigwe, who maintained that the medical exercise would further enabled them to generate and store data of clubs and their players and officials for later use, added that the event would adhere strictly to FIFA best standard and WHO coronavirus protocol.
On her part, the brand manager, Aspire FC, Miss Ezeaso Chidinma Madonna, explained that the exercise was important because neglecting the health status of team players could lead to untimely deaths.
"This is a new innovation. We are trying to set up a standard because the tournament is anchored on FIFA standard. A lot of players and other officials have died across the world due to clubs inability to discover their health status. We don't want to make such a mistake. Aspire FC been a grassroots oriented club, want to make sure that other clubs like ours thrive by exposing them to this kind opportunities. That is among the reasons why we are sponsoring this tournament,” Madonna disclosed.
In separate interviews some of the participating clubs, the Director/President, Dosad Football Academy, Rev. Fr. Obinna Dike and Dr Abakare Chris of United FA Amawbia, described the exercise as a worthwhile venture, which according to them, would encourage the beneficiaries to know