Editors ChoiceIn The News

Algeria backs out of African athletics championships

Algeria Athletics Federation said yesterday that hosting the 2020 Africa Championships billed for June 24-28 is no longer feasible following the unabated spread of the coronavirus. This coming on the heels of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has grounded almost all major sporting activities in 2020.

“Following the magnitude of the pandemic and the containment and awareness measures decided by the public authorities, the two sports authorities decided to postpone these championships to the summer of 2021,” said Algeria Athletics Federation (FAA) on their website. Organisers are now awaiting a new date to be set for the Olympics before setting their own date for the championships, which was last hosted by Delta State in 2018. Top African athletes like Blessing Okagbare, Marie-Josée Ta Lou, Akani Simbine, Amos Nijel, Hugues Fabrice Zango participated in Asaba 2018.

The African Athletics Confederation has given its thumbs up for the indefinite postponement. The postponement of the Athletics championships follows the cancellation of the African Cross Country Championships which was to be held in Lome, Togo on April 8. CAA moved the event to March 2021, the same month as the World Cross Country championships.

Source: Vanguard

*The views of the above article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Africa Speaks 4 Africa or its editorial team.

Leave a Reply