The Confederation of African Football (CAF), Medical Committee has advised the mother body of African football associations/federations to cancel its competitions, Dr Prince Pambo, a member of the Committee announced.
Speaking on ‘Beyond the Lockdown’ regarding the decisions reached by the continental governing body, he said recommendations have been sent to the Executive Committee (ExCo) to cancel their tournaments.
“At the medical point,” Dr Pambo began “what we have done is, we have adviced CAF ExCo to cancel its tournament; be it the CHAN which was supposed to be played in April, the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup matches,” he revealed.
As the governing body of football in Africa, CAF have the responsibility of taking initiatives for football growth and that must be replicated by its members.
But, the specialist Physician in Sports medicine stated that they cannot make decisions for member associations on the future of their competitions.
“Continental football doesn’t have control over any particular league.
“CAF has its own games, but CAF again doesn’t own any country or any pitch any where so what it means is that, CAF would need the permission of various countries for the game of football to start.
“A number of countries have responded by saying their leagues have been truncated and that they would rather sit down and plan a new league season, probably August – September, others have asked for extension of time to engage; the Ghana football association falls under into that bracket,” he said.
CAF suspended all of its competitions indefinitely, but is yet to officially announce cancelation of those scheduled games.
(Joy News)
CAF medical committee advice cancellation of competitions
World Athletics pledges USD 500,000 for athletes
The World Athletics (WA) has announced a USD 500,000 pledge to help athletes across the world affected by the pandemic. The WA and the International Athletics Foundation (IAF) have teamed up to start a fund for athletes who are struggling financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to WA’s statement, it has opened applications for their Athletes Welfare Fund, which will provide a total of USD 500,000 to runners who are struggling financially due to the suspended racing season. The application is open to any track and field athletes who have achieved an Olympic standard in their event. These runners are legible to receive up to USD 4000.
WA president Sebastain Coe will lead a group assessing applications for assistance. The group will meet this week and will look into how to raise additional funds.
“I am in constant contact with athletes around the world and I know that many are experiencing financial hardship as a consequence of the shutdown of most international sports competition in the last two months,” Coe said in a statement.
Additionally, Coe also said “Our professional athletes rely on prize money as part of their income and we are mindful that our competition season, on both track and road, is being severely impacted by the pandemic.”
Only athletes who have been impacted financially to the extent that they are unable to maintain their basic standard of living should apply. All applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria: must be qualified (by meeting the entry standard) for selection for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, must have never had an anti-doping rule violation, must be able to demonstrate a justifiable welfare need through significant loss of income in 2020 compared to 2019.
Elsewhere, the fund goes to those most in need, the athletes those ranked in the top 6 in their event in the World Athletics World Rankings, those who have finished in the top 6 positions of any Gold Label Road Race in 2019 and those who have earned more than USD 6,000 in prize money from the Diamond League in 2019 will not be eligible to apply.
The notice also has pointed out that, athletes who, throughout the covid-19 pandemic, continue to receive an annual grant from their Government, National Olympic Committee, Member Federation or sponsors are not expected to apply unless they can demonstrate a justifiable welfare need as detailed above.
In this regard, the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) has taken into account the possible impact of the pandemic on Ethiopian athletes. It is to be recalled that the EAF has pledged 4.5 million birr to go towards the national athletics team after its executive committee members reached an agreement. The EAF has provided the payments and equipment’s.
APR named champions as Rwanda calls off football season
Army side APR have been crowned Rwanda Premier League champions for a record 18th time after the Rwandese Football Federation (FERWAFA) called an end to the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision was reached upon by the FERWAFA Executive Committee in accordance to Article 33 of the FERWAFA Statutes and Article 28 of the FERWAFA Internal rules and regulations.
FERWAFA handed APR the title based on the standings after Match Day 23, and subsequently, results from Match Day 24 have been cancelled as not all teams had played round 24 games. APR led the standings with 57 points.
At the same time, Heroes FC and Gicumbi FC who were bottom of the pile with 15 and 16 points respectively have been relegated from the top tier.
The standings for the second division have been tabulated based on results from mid-season, while play-offs will be organized between the top four sides of each zone to get two teams to be promoted to the Premier League.
There is some hope for the women’s competitions though with the first and second division leagues suspended and will resume when Government of Rwanda eases lock-down on sporting activities.
At the same time, the Men’s and Women’s Peace Cup 2020 Editions are declared null and void while the Youth Competitions in all age categories have been postponed.
Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele to run in worldwide virtual relay marathon
Runners from around the world will have the chance to team up with the likes of marathon superstar Eliud Kipchoge next month as the NN Running Team has announced a worldwide virtual team relay event involving some of its top athletes.
While traditional races have been cancelled and postponed due to the coronavirus crisis, virtual events are experiencing a boom. Now the NN Running Team has launched ‘MA RA TH ON’ to take place on June 6 and 7, giving participants the opportunity to run against, or even possibly with, athletes such as Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele, Joshua Cheptegei and Geoffrey Kamworor to complete a marathon.
The event involves each runner in the four-strong teams completing 10.5km. Runners can enter as complete teams of four, or if entering solo they will be teamed up with runners from around the world. The NN Running Team athletes will be randomly added to 10 of the participating teams.
“I can say that myself and my teammates are really looking forward to join the relay in this wonderful initiative,” said world marathon record-holder Kipchoge.
“It has been an unusual time whereby all runners had to readjust their plans after having prepared well towards their own goals for this past spring season. We all look forward to a positive future and I believe that this a great first step in that direction.
“Marathon is a sport whereby elite athletes and fun runners are actually all racing in the same race. It’s what makes our sport unique and I find the essence of this to be beautiful. Every runner has their own pace, their own background and their own motives to why they run.
