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ASA WISH LIST NOT SET IN STONE

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Wayde van Niekerk  Photo by BackpagePix
Wayde van Niekerk Photo by BackpagePix

IN a bid to avoid any last minute hiccups, Athletics SA (ASA) has already started planning for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

ASA released a list of senior athletics and relay teams that will attend training camps as part of the preparations for the Games, but that has raised some question marks as other athletes have been left out.

ASA is determined to avoid the embarrassment of again not having a relay team as happened at the Rio Games in Brazil last year.

The team tried to qualify for the Games at the eleventh hour, but failed.

Big name athletes such as Wayde van Niekerk, Caster Semenya, Akani Simbine, Luvo Manyonga, Rushwal Samaai, Elroy Gelant, Lusapho April, and Lebo and Lebogang Phalula just to mention a few have made the list of 39 athletes.

Commonwealth bronze medallist Andre Olivier is one of the big name athletes who failed to make the cut.

Mzansi’s renowned coach Jean Verster, who was nominated for the SA Sports Coach of the Year in 2016, said the list raised some eyebrows.

But ASA president Aleck Skhosana says there is no need for them to wait for a year before the Olympics to start preparing.

Skhosana said: “This is not the final list and those who have made the list shouldn’t relax. It will be updated with inclusions and omissions before the World Championships in London later this year.”

Verster, who coached Semenya to the 800m gold medal in Rio, said the list was a good thing, but insisted that more still needed to be done for athletes.

“ASA must get the medical, physios and the training camps correct for this initiative to work.”

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