Babalola Oluwatomiwa
Social Member
Egypt have pulled out of the 2015 All African Games billed for Congo Brazaville next month.
The North African side, who qualified for both the Women’s and Men events confirmed their withdrawal but never disclosed their reason for their decision.
Meanwhile, Confederation of African Football made a provision for the team eliminated by the team which withdrew before the championship to take the place, but this team has also declined on the grounds of short notice.
This means that Seven teams instead of Eight will battle for gold medals in both men and women's events of the games come September.
In accordance with Article 19 (B) of the regulations which states “If a team withdraws after having qualified for the Final Tournament, but before the actual start of the Final Tournament, the Organizing Committee may replace it by the last team it has eliminated, if the circumstances are favourable…” the two teams eliminated by Egypt in the qualifiers, Senegal (Women) and Burundi (Men) also decided against replacing Egypt due to the short notice.
In default, the group to which the forfeiting team belonged shall be composed of three teams only.
Women
Group A – Congo, Nigeria, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire
Group B – Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa
Men
Group A – Congo, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso
Group B – Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria
The tournament will be held from 6 – 18 September 2015 in Brazzaville, Congo.