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Reddy says meeting went well

SATISFIED: Sascoc chief executive Tubby Reddy
SATISFIED: Sascoc chief executive Tubby Reddy

SOUTH Africa's Olympic chief says he had a "constructive" meeting with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) at the weekend, in an effort to explain the administrative takeover of Athletics SA (ASA) and prevent international sanctions.

Tubby Reddy, chief executive of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), confirmed yesterday that he had met with IAAF representatives on the sidelines of an Association of National Olympic Committees (Anoc) gathering in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"The meeting went very well," Reddy said. "I cannot comment on the details, however, until I have given feedback to the Sascoc board, which I will do tomorrow."

The IAAF said earlier this month it would send a delegation to South Africa to meet Sascoc and ASA, suggesting the athletics federation could be suspended by the global governing body due to "outside interference".

"It is a fundamental principle of the IAAF's governance of the sport of athletics that its national governing bodies are run - and are allowed to be run - as democratically elected institutions, in accordance with their statutes, free from any influence or interference," Cheikh Thiare, director of the executive office of the IAAF president, told Reddy in an e-mail.

"Membership of the IAAF and the right to participate in competitions is conditional upon such principles being upheld... without compromise in any measure."

But Reddy said the Olympic body would uphold its suspensions of ASA president James Evans and the board for financial irregularities and autocratic leadership.

He said he hoped the meeting in Lausanne would prevent sanctions against ASA.

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