YAOUNDE: The African Cup of Nations opened on Sunday in Cameroon with a burst of colour but also under the shadow of a coronavirus pandemic that is surging again because of the rapid spread of the omicron variant just as the continent’s biggest sports show begins.

       Dancers wearing red, green, yellow, white and blue costumes gyrated in the middle of the field during the opening cere-mony at the newly rebuilt Olembe Sta-dium in the capital, Yaounde. Some of the per-formers wore masks in matching colors.

       The computer-generated image of a giant lion walked across the top of the stadium roof as the ceremony began, then leaped down to the stadium floor and prowled the outer rim of the field. It was a nod to Cameroon’s national team, which is known as the Indomitable Lions.

       The ceremony ended with red, green and yellow smoke the colors of Cameroon’s flag bursting from a giant replica of the African Cup of Nations trophy in the middle of the stadium.

       FIFA President Gianni Infantino attended, as did 88-year-old Cameroon President Paul Biya, who has led the Central African country since 1982. He didn’t wear a mask.

       The month-long tournament featuring 24 teams will be hard-pressed to avoid being regularly disrupted by Covid infections and outbreaks given that so many teams have had virus cases in the buildup.

       Teams participating in the Afr-ica Cup of Nations must play their fixtures if they have at least 11 players who have tested negative for Covid-19, the organisers have said.

       Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2022