Botswana pulls out of COSAFA U-17 women's championship due to COVID-19

Source: Xinhua| 2020-10-22 21:42:32|Editor: huaxia

GABORONE, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Botswana Football Association (BFA) on Thursday announced its withdrawal from the 2020 Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) U-17 women's championships, citing rising cases of COVID-19.

The tournament is to be hosted at Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa from Nov. 5-13.

"We, as the BFA, have established that there is a rise in coronavirus cases in (Botswana) schools which would affect the camp plans we had put in place," Tumo Mpatane, the spokesperson for BFA, told Xinhua in an interview on telephone.

Furthermore, the southern African country's football governing body failed to raise a team due to the upcoming end of year examinations. The core of Botswana's U-17 women's team are secondary students, said Mpatane.

Botswana was expected to battle it out against hosts South Africa, Comoros, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, according to a communique from COSAFA.

Botswana's confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 5,609 and 21 deaths as on Oct. 22, according to John Hopkins University, which is tracking the disease globally. Enditem

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