African Games: South Africa Cancel Hockey Participation Due to Unsafe Pitches

• South Africa's hockey teams will no longer participate at the African Games
• The nation's federation withdrew over a report on the safety of the pitches
• Both the men's and women's teams have already qualified for Paris 2024

South Africa's hockey team will fly home without slapping a ball.

Their withdrawal is an unfortunate blip on what has been a well-received 13th African Games in Accra.

The reason for their unceremonious departure is due to, what an external report claims, is a surface not fit for international competition.

South Africa's men's and women's teams are the highest-ranked in Africa.

The men are ranked 14th in the world, four places ahead of Egypt, while the women are 18th, 12 places above their nearest African rivals, Kenya, as per FIH.

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SA Hockey relied on a FIH-accredited carpet-laying company back home to give their assessment based on photos sent by the federation. As per Supersport, Team SA's Patience Shikwambana said:

"They have also advised us, having analysed the images we shared with them, that the field is not satisfactory and may cause harm to the athletes."

Shikwambana listed a host of FIH regulations and protocols that should have been followed, while bemoaning the logistical inconvenience of the situation.

Noting a lack of planning prior to the event, The Citizen quoted her as saying:

"The FIH has a number of accredited test institutes. We are not certain if they have been involved and provided the necessary certification.”

The 13th African Games would have been valuable game time for both of South Africa's teams ahead of the hockey tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

South African athletes with most medals

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Sports Brief recently compiled a list of the South African athletes who earned the most medals at the African Games.

Team SA has 20 athletes who have won two or more medals and 16 of those have been earned in the swimming pool.

As of March 17, Egypt led the medals table with 90 gold, followed by Nigeria and South Africa with 27 and 25 each.