By Poloko Mokhele
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has taken a decision to withdraw the South African team from the AUSC Region 5 youth games with immediate effect.
The AUSC Region 5 commenced in the country on December 3 and are scheduled to end on Sunday.
In a brief statement released last night, SASCOC indicated that the decision came after an increase in the number of positive Covid-19 cases at the games. “Team SA also had athletes that have tested positive for the virus.
“After a thorough assessment of the situation, including consultation where required, the team management has decided to return the squad to South Africa. Team SA’s Covid-19 protocols have all worked well and these cases have been well contained and limited,” SASCOC said.
The committee stated that the safety of the athletes is of paramount importance and does not want to run the risk of having more of its athletes becoming affected.
On Friday, several team Lesotho basketball players were reported to have tested positive for Covid-19 while the national under-17 football team missed six of its players when they faced Eswatini on Sunday, after six players tested positive.
Despite the rise of cases reports from the games, the National Covid-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC) statistics still remain low, with the last update dated 3rd December reporting twelve new cases are currently ongoing in the country
