JOHANNESBURG - After a tumultuous year without any on-track action, competitive athletics will finally return to South Africa, Athletics South Africa (ASA) announced in a statement on Thursday.
Starting next week Tuesday, the two-legged ASA Athletix Invitational Meet powered by AVANTI, will be hosted by the national athletics association at Ruimsig Stadium in Roodepoort. The second leg will take place a week later on March 30. Both legs will start at 3pm in a two-hour long package.
The meet will afford South Africa's finest athletes an opportunity to continue their preparation for the Olympics Games in Tokyo later this year, as well as the World Athletics Championships and the World Under-20 Championships.
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As such the Athletix Invitational Meet has invited South Africa's elite athletes to test themselves against those from Botswana, Czech Republic, Egypt, Eswatini Finland, Latvia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
“Our athletes have missed out on a lot of competition this past year due to the pandemic,” said Aleck Skhosana, the president of ASA, in the statement. “We are excited to be able to welcome them back to competitive racing with the launch of these two premium senior meetings.
“Our athletes are hungry to compete and we have no doubt that the meetings will be explosive, entertaining and of the highest standard.
“We have also opened the meetings to fellow African countries to enable them access to high level competition and a chance to achieve their own goals, but this is all subject to compliance with South African Covid-19 rules and regulations, and fulfillment of visa requirements where relevant."
The event will be broadcast on SABC and also live-streamed on TelkomONE, with the details to be confirmed at a later stage. Due to Covid-19 regulations, spectators will not be permitted to attend the meet.
IOL Sport