South Africa’s premier showcase of emerging athletics talent, Varsity Athletics has been postponed.
This decision follows after careful consideration by Varsity Sports and in consultation with University Sports South Africa (USSA).
USSA Athletics was suspended by Athletics South Africa (ASA) in December 2019 and as a result none of the USSA Athletics events for 2020 are sanctioned by ASA, including Varsity Athletics.
Varsity Athletics, featuring eight of SA’s top university teams in competition was scheduled to take place on Friday, 20 March at the University of Pretoria.
USSA has approached ASA in an effort to resolve the matter with no success to date. Negotiations are ongoing.
We have no alternative but to postpone Varsity Athletics in an effort to allow USSA the opportunity to resolve the matter amicably to the benefit of all university athletes.
Varsity Athletics is without doubt the number one showcase of SA’s aspiring athletics superstars. Over the past seven years this platform showcased the likes of Caster Semenya, Wayde van Niekerk and Akani Simbine, to name a few. The success of Varsity Athletics also supported Team SA jumping to 10th spot on the medals table at the bi-annual Summer Universiade in 2019, up from 44th place in Taipei two years earlier.
University sport plays a crucial part in the development of sport in South Africa, without which South Africa will simply not be able to grow its athletic talent.
