South African Hockey CEO Shaune Baaitjies is adamant both the men’s and women’s hockey teams will be allowed to participate at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris, should they qualify.
There has been concern about whether the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) will include the hockey sides, even if they qualify.
Both the men and women are currently competing at the African Olympic qualifying tournament in Pretoria.
SASCOC has not always been open to allowing South African teams to compete at the Olympic Games, even if they qualified by virtue of being African champions.
Both teams were left home for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil but were selected to take part in the 2020 Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Baaitjies says, “Already we had discussions because of the qualification criteria, the top men and women will go and yes if they qualify they will definitely go based on my understanding based on the conversations we have had.”
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