CSA appeals team selection

“We sent an appeal yesterday afternoon and we have further motivated again this morning,” CSA general manager Mike Bradley said on Thursday.

“We are the number two ranked nation in terms of the Commonwealth countries. Louis Meintjes was a silver medallist in the under-23 category at the UCI road champs last year and, by virtue of that fact – because UCI does not have an under-23 specific ranking – he would then be ranked the highest rider in the Commonwealth in terms of the under-23s.

“If you also look at the riders ranked higher than Daryl Impey, currently in the Commonwealth, seven or six of them aren’t going to the event. They are all from UK cycling, so that makes Daryl the third highest ranked rider at the Commonwealth and we’ll appeal on all these three bases.”

Sascoc on Wednesday announced a 15-member cycling team, in a squad of 155 athletes to represent South Africa at the Glasgow Games, which run from July 23 to August 3.

Ashleigh Moolman Pasio, would line-up in the women’s road race alongside Cherise Stander, Heidi Dalton, Lise Olivier, Anriette Schoeman and Andri Coetzee.

While 2012 World Track Championship silver medallist Nolan Hoffman, Morne van Niekerk, Kellan Gouveris, Oupa Maluleke, Bernard Esterhuizen, Theuns van der Bank and Evan Carstens, would all participate in the track events at the Games.

In the mountain bike category, Mariske Strauss and Phillip Buys would fly the South African flag.

A men’s road cycling team, however, was not named because of its failure to meet Sascoc’s selection criteria.

According to the criteria, all individual athletes and team sports eligible for the Games had to be ranked in the top five in the Commonwealth to be considered for final selection.

Sascoc’s president Gideon Sam confirmed on Thursday that CSA had nominated a men’s road team for the Games, however, the team had failed in meeting the required criteria.

“The women’s team had one woman ranked in the top five and the team made it on those grounds, knowing they would build around this one cyclist,” Sam said.

“The men, however, did not have anyone ranked in the top five and, therefore, could not be included in the South African team for the games.”

Sam said they had engaged CSA on this issue and both parties had agreed on the selection criteria.

“Following the London Olympics, all federations signed a document where they agreed on the terms set for the selection criteria.

“The criteria was agreed upon by Sascoc’s president’s council and was also agreed upon by all the presidents of the federations.”

CSA acknowledged it had signed the agreement with Sascoc, but said it had also explained to the federation that it could not have blanket coverage for all sporting codes with the same policy.

“When we signed a document with Sascoc which says you have to be in the top five, we based that on the fact that mountain biking is an individual sport so it’s top five ranking. In road cycling, it is a team sport so it’s your top five nation ranking,” Bradley said.

“In that document that I’ve subsequently seen, there is no definition as to whether it’s team-based or individual-based or how their calculation is defined or how it’s calculated, because the UCI does not issue a Commonwealth ranking.

“So it’s our interpretation thereof and Sascoc’s interpretation thereof and so that is why we have motivated on the fact that we are the second ranked nation in the Commonwealth and to have that ranking, you can’t have a bunch of riders who don’t know what they’re doing.”

Bradley said he hoped to eventually have a men’s team representing South Africa at the Games.

“We have been trying to explain to Sascoc over the last two years that in road cycling it’s very much a team-based sport because you need the whole team to support one rider to get the win, so you can’t base it purely on individual rankings.

“We have good riders who are performing well around the world and, as a nation, we’re ranked second in the Commonwealth.

“We hope that, in the end, we will get a men’s team to the Commonwealth Games because we believe they are medal contenders which is what Sascoc wants.”

– Sapa