COVID-19 has put paid to Namibia’s hopes of hosting the Junior Africa Cup hockey tournament, with the Africa Hockey Federation announcing that the tournament had been cancelled.
Namibia was due to host the tournament from 14 to 22 August, but due to the escalating Covid-19 situation, it has now been cancelled.
“The Africa Hockey Federation (AfHF) recently received several updates from the Namibia Hockey Union (NHU) as host of the Junior Africa Cup (JAC) 2021 for men and women, re the Covid-19 developments in Namibia preventing NHU from committing to the hosting of the JAC 2021 (M/W) at the above-mentioned dates,” it said in a press release.
“Moreover, Namibia’s president’s speech of 30 June 2021 about the escalating Covid-19 situation and followed by Covid-19 measures of public health restrictions made it impossible for the JAC 2021 to take place on the planned August 2021 dates; such dates being originally postponed from March 2021 by a special extension from the FIH and not subject to any further extensions,” the press release added.
With this year’s qualifying tournament for the Junior World Cup now being cancelled, the AfHF announced that the 2016 African champions and runners-up will now qualify automatically for the Junior World Cup.
The men’s qualifiers are the defending champions Egypt and the runners-up South Africa, while the women’s champions are South Africa and the runners-up Zimbabwe.
“The AfHF has been forced to take this decision given the unfortunate news of the highly contagious Covid-19 variant hitting Namibia and the surrounding countries and the impossibility of having another postponement based on valid reasons as discussed with the FIH.
“This decision has been taken with a heavy heart keeping in mind its impact mostly on our young players amongst all stakeholders. The safety and wellbeing of our players, coaches, officials, administrators and fans remain our top priority,” it added.
The men’s JAC will be held in India from 25 November to 5 December 2021, while the women’s JAC will be held in South Africa from 5 to 16 December 2021.