SASCOC finalising official name change

South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) is getting closer to changing its name to Sport SA.

According to the 1st vice-president Lwandile Simelane, the process of changing the name is almost complete.

The new name has been adopted and accepted by the council. Simelane says the only missing part is making the necessary constitutional changes.

œYes, it™s still going to happen, the only that is outstanding is for us to make the necessary constitutional changes but the name been adopted and accept by the council and when we have those constitutional changes done, the media will be invited to that celebration and it will be bringing a new face in sport in the country.

œYou have seen a more stable, a more exciting, a more diligent Sascoc in the last 2 or so years, so yah we definitely very excited to change the way people see sport in this country, said Simelane.

Sascoc will hold a board meeting this week to discuss the name change and also brief its members about Team SA™s performance at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last month, where the team of almost 300 athletes and officials returned with 27 medals.

Simelane added that, it is a matter of time before Sascoc re-launches the Operation Excellence Programme (OPEX). She hinted it could happen anytime from now.

œKeep your ears to the ground we are very close, OPEX will be back. It™s definitely been a programme for us, it™s been a passion for us as Sascoc to bring back OPEX, it might be a new look OPEX that is trying to address the needs of athletics as best as it can."

œWe can™t do all of it, we can™t address all issues, you will never ever have a perfect system but we are trying to find the best system possible

The new-look programme will assist 50 athletes from various sporting codes with their Olympic Games preparations.

By Charles Baloyi