WEB DESK
Upcoming FIH Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup in South Africa has been put on hold, following the outbreak of a new coronavirus variant in the African nation. The Hockey tournament was to be held from 5 to 16 of next month.
International Hockey Federation (FIH), the South African Hockey Association, and the North-West University of Potchefstroom jointly took this decision yesterday.
In a statement, FIH CEO Thierry Weil said, the safety of everyone involved in the FIH events is an absolute priority. He said, additionally, many countries, including some of the participating teams, have now strongly increased their travel restrictions with South Africa, including halting flights. Therefore, it simply isn’t possible to maintain this event as planned, he added.
The FIH said, it will keep monitoring the situation and make a decision about the potential staging of the tournament as soon as it will be possible to do so.
The event was to see 16 top teams from across the globe battle for the title which was previously won by Argentina in 2016.
Forward Lalremsiami was to lead India’s 18-member junior squad at the tournament in South Africa.
Earlier in the day, the UK announced it was suspending flights from South Africa and five other southern African countries and making travellers from these countries self-isolate for 10 days.
The new variant was first detected in South Africa this week and scientists there have said B.1.1.529 has a large number of mutations.