Category: Games

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has dismissed speculation that the Africa Football Cup of Nations (AFCON), scheduled from January in Cameroon, could be again postponed because of the pandemic.

CAF secretary-general Veron Mosengo-Omba during a visit to Cameroon Wednesday said the spread of the omicron variant could affect the number of fans allowed in stadiums. Nonetheless, he said Cameroon was prepared to host Africa’s top football (soccer) tournament.

Omba says the Africa Football Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament will begin in January as planned in Cameroon, despite the COVID pandemic.

Britain’s Daily Mail and Mirror newspapers this week speculated that the AFCON tournament, Africa’s top soccer contest, might be cancelled amid a fresh wave of global infections fueled by the omicron variant.

Cameroon is expected to welcome thousands of international football fans for the games, which begin January 9 and go through February 6.

Speaking Wednesday during a visit to Cameroon’s coastal city Douala, Omba said he was convinced that the host nation was ready to take appropriate measures.

He says Cameroonian authorities have assured the CAF that the spread of COVID-19 will be reduced to a minimum during the football tournament. Omba says the CAF will decide how many spectators will be allowed to attend football matches based on daily COVID-19 reports from Cameroon and the CAF’s own health teams.

The AFCON tournament, Africa’s most prominent championship, was twice postponed due to construction delays and the pandemic.

Omba said construction had advanced since initial worries that Yaounde’s Olembe stadium would not be ready, but it was now on schedule to host the opening and closing matches.

Despite health campaigns, Cameroonian authorities say vaccine hesitancy in the country is still quite high.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Public Health says less than 4% of its targeted 16 million people have been vaccinated. Cameroon has about 26 million people.

Director of Cameroon’s AFCON tournament Michel Dissake Mbarga says fans will have to present a negative COVID test not older than 24 hours to enter the stadiums, regardless of vaccination status.

“When you are vaccinated you have some sort of advantage, but each time there is a match, only those who are tested negative will have access to the stadiums. The secretary-general of CAF assured us that they are going to have [to invite] a particular laboratory from Europe which will help the players tested negative to [get] access to the stadium,” he said.

The omicron variant, first reported in South Africa in November, has since been confirmed in scores of countries around the world.

Experts say it appears to spread more easily than other COVID variants, to evade some vaccines, but also to have milder symptoms. The thousands of fans expected to gather in Cameroon’s stadiums for the AFCON tournament has also raised safety concerns.

Anglophone separatists in western Cameroon have threatened attacks on two towns with stadiums that will host some of the matches.

Cameroonian authorities, however, have assured football fans and players that AFCON will be safe despite the threats.

Source: Voice of America

As South Korea decides whether or not to join the Biden administration’s diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, experts said its decision could signal its commitment to Washington’s coalition-building strategy centered on human rights.

A senior official at the South Korea’s Blue House presidential office, who preferred to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject, told reporters Seoul has not made any decisions on whether to send diplomatic representatives to the Beijing Olympics.

When the United States announced the boycott, it specified the move was to protest China’s human rights violations.

Evans Revere, a formal State Department official with an extensive experience negotiating with North Korea, said South Korea “will have to make its own decisions, but as a U.S. ally and a country that nominally stands for human rights and human freedoms, Seoul will have to think carefully about the message that its high-level attendance at the Beijing Games would send.”

Revered continued, “It’s fair to say that Washington would not welcome such participation.”

Prioritizing human rights

White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Monday the Biden administration will not send any diplomatic representation to the Beijing Olympics due to China’s “ongoing genocide” against the Muslim Uyghur minority group in its western Xinjian region.

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Tuesday that “the U.S. should stop politicizing sports and stop disrupting and undermining the Beijing Winter Olympics.”

Lijian continued, “The U.S. has been fabricating the biggest lie of the century about so-called ‘genocide’ in Xinjian” and promised Beijing “will respond with firm countermeasures.”

VOA’s Korean Service asked the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Beijing’s Olympics Organizing Committee if South Korea had been sent an invitation to the games but received no responses.

The Biden administration has put “the protection of human rights” at the center of its foreign policy since taking office this year, according to the U.S. State Department.

Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom joined Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the games this week citing alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang as a reason.

Experts said if South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in decides to attend the Beijing Olympics or send diplomatic representation, he could face criticism.

Scott Snyder, director of the program on U.S.-Korea Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Moon’s attendance “would be greeted … negatively.”

Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at the Hudson Institute, said of Moon, “It would be ironic if a human rights lawyer whose parents fled communism in search of freedom allowed himself to provide cover for the persecution of minorities in Xinjian and Tibet and for the crackdown on democratic rights in Hong Kong.”

Cronin continued, “At this point in his tenure, President Moon should be asking whether a closer relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang is in the national security of South Korea.”

After Moon held a summit with President Joe Biden in May, the two agreed their commitment toward a “vision for a region governed by democratic norms, human rights and the rule of law at home and abroad.”

Delicate balancing act

At the same time, however, the Moon government has been trying to use the Beijing Winter Olympics as a venue to revitalize the currently stalled inter-Korean peace process much as the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics held in South Korea became a stage for inter-Korean reconciliation.

South Korea’s Unification Minister Lee In-young in October said, “We hope that through the Beijing Winter Olympics, we can work to find opportunities for the restoration of inter-Korean relations and a ‘new leap forward for peace.’”

Suh Hoon, Moon’s national security adviser, sought Beijing’s support for a formal declaration to end the Korean War when he met with Yang Jiechi, Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo member, in China’s eastern city of Tianjin last week.

Harry Kazianis, senior director of Korean Studies at the Center for the National Interest, said, “The U.S. should not get upset or disappointed at President Moon” if he decides to attend the Beijing Olympics, “as he is the leader of a nation that has an economic relationship with China worth hundreds of billions of dollars and is a security ally of the United States.”

Robert Manning, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said, “While the U.S. would not be happy, especially if most U.S. allies also boycott official presence at the Olympics, I think the White House understands the sensitivities Moon must navigate in dealing with China.”

Joseph DeTrani, who served as special envoy for six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea during the administration of George W. Bush, said, “South Korea, obviously needs to make its own decision on official representation at the Winter Olympics, based upon its relationship with China and its own approach for voicing concern about these human rights abuses.”

 

Source: Voice of America

Kenya on Thursday disbanded its national football federation over corruption allegations and said it may seek to prosecute any guilty officials.

The move was swiftly rejected by the suspended head of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF), who denied there had been any wrongdoing.

Sports Minister Amina Mohamed said the action was taken after a government investigation into FKF finances revealed it had failed to account for funds received from the government and other sponsors.

She said in a statement there would be a further probe to “establish the extent to which the misappropriation of funds in FKF may have occurred, with a view of prosecuting those who may be found culpable”.

The minister named a 15-member caretaker committee to run the federation’s affairs until fresh elections are held in six months’ time.

But suspended FKF chief Nick Mwendwa vowed to fight the move.

“I am still… in charge of the FKF. We won’t accept the decision taken by the sports ministry,” Mwendwa told a press conference.

“The FKF reject the (caretaker) committee, and we will carry on with our operations as usual. This means all football activities in the country continue as scheduled and FKF remains in charge.

Mwendwa denied that the federation had failed to account for government funds.

“FKF fully complied with the inspection process ordered by the minister, and (provided) detailed and operational documents from the year 2016 to date. But regrettably the inspectors had no serious interest in scrutinizing our documents.”

The government investigation launched two weeks ago sought to determine if 244 million shillings ($2.2 million) given to the federation was used as intended to prepare the national Harambee Stars team for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Egypt.

Thursday’s government move may put Kenya at loggerheads with FIFA which prohibits government interference in the affairs of local federations.

Mohamed said Kenya had informed FIFA about the outcome of the government investigation.

The Harambee Stars played Uganda in a 2022 World Cup qualifier in Kampala on Thursday, a match that ended in a 1-1 draw.

Kenya is mathematically out of the running for the Qatar finals after two big losses to group leaders Mali and draws against Uganda and Rwanda.

Source: Voice of America

Health workers in Cameroon are fighting a cholera outbreak that claimed 13 lives this week in two major cities of the central African state. The outbreak, which has affected several hundred people, comes as Cameroon prepares to host the African Football Cup of Nations, or AFCON, in about two months.

Cameroon’s health minister Manaouda Malachie in a release this week said thousands of civilians in the capital city Yaounde and Ekondo-Titi, an English-speaking western town, are threatened by cholera.

Cholera is an infectious and often fatal bacterial disease of the small intestine, typically contracted from infected water supplies and food. It causes severe vomiting and diarrhea and can kill within hours if left untreated.

Amos Kome Njikang, the medical doctor in charge of the Ekondo-Titi hospital, dispatched health workers to the community to search for and transport cholera patients to the hospital.

“Four more cases came in between yesterday and early this morning,” he said. “We have made plans for the transportation of new cases from the community to the health facility at Bamousso. We have also tried to increase personal hygiene, hand washing, washing of whatever we consume. We are trying to tell them how to purify water before they drink.”

The health ministry said several hundred patients were rushed to hospitals in Yaounde and Ekondo-Titi. The government said it recorded at least 13 cholera-related deaths in the two towns since Monday.

It’s feared the outbreak may have claimed more lives in villages which lack health infrastructure.

This week, the ministry of health said it dispatched several dozen health workers to warn civilians that eating uncooked food and unwashed fruits, or drink water that’s not boiled, increases the risk getting cholera.

The cholera outbreak comes as Cameroon prepares to host the African Football Cup of Nations, AFCON, starting on January 9.

Yaounde, which will host teams from eight African nations in the continental soccer event, has reported at least 100 cholera cases.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Yaounde mayor Luc Messi Atangana said he’s cleaning up the city and improving the drinkable water supply to stop cholera from spreading.

He said the outbreak is provoked by increased refuse dumped by civilians on street corners, and he’s hired 30 trash trucks to add to 200 others that clear Yaounde of municipal solid waste. He expects Yaounde to be clean and free from cholera within the next two weeks.

The health ministry said the cholera outbreak may be difficult to contain. Less than 30 percent of the population visits hospitals either because of ignorance or because some civilians prefer traditional African medicine. Health workers are urging civilians to refer suspected cholera cases to the nearest hospitals.

Source: Voice of America

The Tour du Faso, a 10-day bicycle race through the conflict-stricken West African country of Burkina Faso, began in the southern city of Banfora on October 29. One Burkinabe rider hopes to build on his Summer Olympics performance and secure victory despite security concerns.

Paul Daumont is one of eighty cyclists taking part in this year’s Tour du Faso, Burkina Faso’s answer to the world-famous Tour de France bicycle race.

Since October 29, cyclists have pedaled their way across the country, with a new stage each day.

Daumont is back from the Olympics in Tokyo and hopes to improve on his performance in his home country.

He says breaking into cycling was tough, but at just 22, it has already taken him all over the world, from Japan to Switzerland.

“You could say that cycling, whether in Burkina Faso or in the rest of the world, is a sport that is difficult to get into, because you need a machine and the machines are relatively expensive. You have to be lucky enough to already have a bike — or someone who can lend one to you to get started,” Daumont said.

He says that the cycling federation in Burkina Faso helped him with a road racing bike after he showed potential, but you need a good bike to get to that level in the first place.

Despite difficulties with access, the sport of cycling is becoming more popular in Africa, and the Union Cycliste Internationale’s annual Africa tour takes in 11 countries, including Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso is in the midst of a six-year conflict involving terror groups linked to the Islamic State group, al-Qaida and local bandits, and security has deteriorated in recent months.

The organizers and participants at this year’s event, however, were pushing ahead, and the atmosphere was festive.

When asked about security, one of the organizers said it was a concern.

“Yeah. Sure. It’s one of the big difficulties for us, because of course when we have, for example, European countries. We are not all the time sure, but we have a big organization. We have the military with us; we have to police with us,” Bezault said.

Contenders from Europe say they are not worried about security.

“Oh, I don’t feel unsafe at all. I think everyone is very friendly and, yeah, like I said, I haven’t felt unsafe at all. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” Betten said.

Local riders say they are enjoying the cosmopolitan nature of the event but have their eyes on the prize.

“I thank the foreigners who came, and I also thank the cyclists, the runners from Burkina Faso. May God give us the yellow jersey,” Sorgho said.

Meanwhile, Daumont has already placed in the top 10 in the first two stages of the Tour du Faso, which will reach its conclusion on Sunday.

Source: Voice of America

This past weekend saw seven matches in the Hollywoodbets Super League, as all clubs were available for their scheduled fixtures.

Saturday 16 October 2021 saw log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies continue their domination in the league as they beat First Touch Academy 3-1 out at Seshego Stadium, in Polokwane. The University of the Western Cape continued their momentum of winning the Varsity Cup, with a 3-0 win over Tsunami Queens at home, while Ma-Indies claimed a 4-1 away from home to Golden Ladies out in Mahikeng.

Newcomers to the Super League JVW Ladies went back to winning ways after beating Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies 1-0 in Tsakane.

Richmond United Ladies striker and top goal scorer of the league with 18 goals, Ntabiseng Majiya scored a brace for her side out in Durban, but failed to get the three points for her side, as Durban Ladies dug deep to claim a 3-2 victory over the visitors out at Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Lonathemba Mhlongo was the star of the show after scoring a late brace to get Durban Ladies 3 points. The last match of the weekend saw The University of Tshwane walking away with three points against The University of Johannesburg, in the Varsity derby with a 4-1, in a match that was moved from Saturday 16 October 2021, to Sunday 17 October 2021.

The league will continue this coming weekend, as the season draws closing to finishing at the end of November 2021.

Source: South African Football Association