Safa chief medical officer Thulani Ngwenya, who’s going to be one of the doping control officers at the World Cup in Qatar, has narrated why he has mixed emotions about Bafana Bafana’s absence at this global spectacle.

Ngwenya alongside two match officials Victor Gomes and Zakhele Siwela are SA’s only representatives in Qatar as Bafana failed to qualify for the World Cup, starting on Sunday until December 18. The 38-year-old Ngwenya, who’s a sports physician by profession, implied if sports science was taken more seriously Bafana would’ve qualified.

“I have mixed emotions...I am sad that Bafana are not there but this also gives us an opportunity to reflect and see what it is we are not doing right. We do have talent... The one element we lack is sports science. As Africans we don’t take sports science seriously,” Ngwenya said.

“You find Africans doing exceptionally well in Europe, that’s because in Europe sports science is a serious thing... they get proper medical and scientific support. They struggle to replicate their blistering form with their national team because there’s no proper sports science structures.”

Ngwenya rates being at the World Cup as the proudest moment of his career, saying he’s representing the whole African continent. 

“For me, being part of the Fifa World Cup is already the biggest achievement of all time. It’s the first time I am working at a World Cup. I am not only representing SA but the continent as a whole, so this is a big achievement. This is definitely the highlight of my career,” Ngwenya said.

Ngwenya detailed what he’ll be doing in Qatar: “I am going to the Fifa doping control office. What we’ll be actually doing with the other doctors is we will be testing for banned substances... substances players might use to enhance performance. We will be doing random selections during the games, two players from each team. We can also target if we see that a player is scoring a lot of goals and it seems like it’s too good to be true,” Ngwenya explained.