South Africa delay Olympic camp as Covid-19 wrecks havoc

South Africa national u23 coach David Notoane has revealed that they are delaying getting into camp after four players tested positive for the coronavirus.

After returning from Egypt last week where they lost 3-0 to the hosts in an international friendly match, Notoane’s side was expected to regroup on Wednesday ahead of another training camp in Saudi Arabia.

But they are yet to converge after four unnamed players contracted Covid-19 ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games which runs from July 21 to August 6. 

“It’s really sad and difficult after all the hard work we have had in terms of our trip to Saudi Arabia which was scheduled for this weekend. From Saudi we would have traveled straight to Tokyo,” Notoane told Marawa Sport Worldwide on Metro FM and Radio 2000. 

“That’s the reality, this third wave is really something, especially that we are in Gauteng and directly facing it. It’s showing its face into our preparations. At this stage, we have four players [who have tested positive for Covid-19] and results are still trickling in so you can never really be sure at this stage. 

“It is difficult and we are looking forward to come in because we are behind the programme which we had set out to implement.”  

Notoane stated they expect to start training by Friday. 

“We naturally had options in terms of should this one not be here, then we look into this one,” said Notoane. 

“In our last discussion with management we were trying to see if we can move camp out of Gauteng and see if we can move to another province, perhaps Mpumalanga or Limpopo where the third wave is not showing its face yet. But it’s really a challenging situation. So we are waiting for the outcome of what management decides.  

“This thing of sharing rooms creates this kind of problem. We had the same experience in Egypt where on matchday one of the players who was sharing, tested positive while the other one tested negative and it raised concerns around the issue of players sharing.” 

South Africa will begin camp without Kaizer Chiefs players who are busy with Caf Champions League duties.

Midfielders Happy Mashiane, Nkosingiphile Ngcobo and defender Reeve Frosler were invited for the final camp while Njabulo Blom and Siyabonga Ngezana were dropped.