Antoine Bonou: "... to handball, we will approach this innovation with great serenity… ”

After a blank season during the year 2020 due to coronavirus, several sports federations are busy resuming activities. This is the case of the Beninese Handball Federation. In an interview he gave us, the president of the said discipline in Benin, Antoine Bonou spoke about the current state of fitness of athletes in this coronavirus pandemic period. He did not hide the subject of the professionalization of Beninese sport. Read instead!!!

No doubt that 2020 has been a complicated year, synonymous with an inactive season for your athletes because of the Covid 19. The government at the end of last year lifted the suspension on the practice of sport. How and when do you plan to launch activities at your level ?

Let me first of all about, to express you on behalf of the Beninese Handball family and on my own behalf, all our gratitude for the support that you never stop giving us in order to allow everyone to have visibility on our discipline. Be congratulated and thanked. COVID19, as you say is a pandemic which has come to disrupt all human activities and our discipline has not been spared. To save the essential (health) for our populations, the government believed it had to, fortunately by the way, suspend contact and mass activities such as sports activities. It’s only towards the end of the year 2020, these suspensions were lifted to our great relief but with the obligation to strictly observe the barrier gestures. It is in this context, only after necessary consultations, we have at the level of the Federal Executive Committee launched in January the administrative formalities for the opening of the sports season 2021 with a health protocol inspired by that of the African Handball Confederation.

What will be the particularity of this season despite the presence of the pandemic ?

As you can imagine, it will be a special season for two reasons. First of all in relation to the pandemic due to COVID19 which requires us to have a health protocol during our various activities, and then taking into account the new sporting environment linked to the professionalization of sport in our country. These are two realities that will impact our competitions from this new season..

We know that the suspension has harmed the athletes, we can get an idea of ​​their current form ?

Handball like all other disciplines only achieves results in the regularity of well-organized training sessions. Any stoppage or disturbance therefore constitutes a source of poor performance.. So that's what we face after 9 month of suspension of our activities due to the Corona virus. It goes without saying that our athletes are totally in poor shape. But we are convinced that with the method work of our techniques and the will of the athletes, they will soon regain their best level.

What are the major events in Beninese handball and the projects in view? ?

Since the COVID19 situation is not yet fully under control, the calendar of regional and international competitions is reduced to a strict minimum. This means that we will only be entitled to club competitions where we plan to participate with at least one team if this pandemic does not yet disrupt everything. At the national level, through our championships, we will certainly have the opportunity to test some new sports facilities that will soon be made available to us. Just as it would be our very first steps in the pro championship.

The government has launched the professionalization of Beninese sport, your point of view on the matter. And how do you plan to initiate this change in handball? ?

Professionalism is an obligatory step when aiming for good sporting performance in order to gain a good place in the elite. It is therefore a government initiative that we welcome and for which we hope that all the appropriate measures will be taken in synergy with the various actors concerned for its effective and efficient implementation.. About us in handball, we will approach this innovation with great serenity and pragmatism.

Your final word

Our great wish is that the pandemic be brought under control very quickly and that the necessary resources be mobilized to allow a more certain implementation of our programs of activities.. I can't wait for each actor to have the reflexes and synergy of actions that the professionalism of sport requires for its proper implementation. Long live sport. Long live handball, Thank you.  

Interview by: Damien TOLOMISSI