Will this twilight usher in the dawn?
Both dusk and dawn exhibit exactly the same illumination. But, at opposite ends of the horizon, one beckons darkness and fear while the other greets sunshine and hope.
And the world, still reeling from the attack of the novel coronavirus, is once again experiencing the time of twilight, just like the time when the pandemic started and left everyone stunned. But there lies a major difference between that time and now.
While the time the virus broke out was dusk and the world knew it was going to plunge into darkness, now it seems to be heading towards a new dawn with the hope of procuring vaccines in the coming year and returning to being normal.
Sports, much like other activities, had come to a halt in March last year. While athletes were reduced to training at home with no purpose, sporting bodies were left helpless and scratching heads over ways to resume.
But the time of helplessness passed as sports returned, much to the relief of the sports lovers and enthusiasts. From starting behind closed doors to allowing socially distanced spectators in the gallery, from players testing positive and being left unpicked to recovering and scoring goals or centuries and achieving other milestones -- things took turns for the better gradually through the collective efforts of the players, their governing bodies, spectators and all the other stakeholders of sports.
And the efforts from all quarters need to be there in the coming months too. Health safety and protocols need to be prioritised and enforced as only that would lend confidence in continuing sports by overcoming the hurdles.
There will be bumps in the road -- like recording a season-high 18 positive tests in its latest round of testing across the Premier League clubs last week followed by the postponement of a league match between Fulham and Tottenham, the third top-flight game to be delayed by the virus. But just as the Premier League authority mentioned they had "no plans" to pause the season as they had confidence in its protocols, the hope on the first day of 2021 will be that sports will keep on rolling forward while maintaining the health guidelines with a renewed future in sight.
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