SA Hockey seeks urgent meeting with SASCOC over transformation

JOHANNESBURG, May 23 (Xinhua) -- South African Hockey Association (SAHA) President Dave Carr will request an urgent meeting with the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) to clarify the country's men's team selection for the Beijing Olympics.

This comes in the wake of the sports portfolio committee, chaired by Butana Komphela, insisting there be a 50-50 race representation in the squad of 16 players, the South African Press Association reported on Friday.

This flies in the face of an agreement reached late last year between SAHA and SASCOC that six players of colour out of a squad of 16 would be selected for both women's and men's teams.

Ironically, Komphela's committee are satisfied with the six players of color representing the South African women's team but are insisting that the men have eight despite the team having been selected months ago.

Carr said they would have to take the bigger picture into account for the overall good of hockey.

"Most of hockey's funding comes from government," explained Carr. "The Beijing Olympics are not the be all and end all of South African hockey. After Beijing there will still be many more hockey activities."

Carr said that with this in mind he would meet with SASCOC to discuss the composition of the men's team.

"After the meeting with SASCOC I will convene a meeting with the national selectors and the Saha executive to plan hockey's way forward to resolve the situation we find ourselves in," concluded Carr.