South Africa retains continental athletics title in Nigeria

South Africa has continued its dominance of the continent, after retaining the crown and emerging as African champions at the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Under-18, Under-20 Championships in Abeokuta, Nigeria which ended on Sunday.

The Team SA is travelling back home in two groups, a day apart. The first group which left Lagos on Monday for Kigali in Rwanda, landed on Tuesday at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.

The second group has just taken off from Nigeria this afternoon enroute for Kigali and will land in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

While South Africa has topped Africa, together with the rest of the continent we await the final medals count and results from the hosts and organisers. Timetronics, who were capturing the results, reportedly suffered more than one crash of their electronic system, which triggered a chain of chaos throughout the championship. As a consequence, the results from CAA under the LOC, have not been consistent.

The final statistics of the championships, therefore, will be first declared by the CAA to make them official, before they are publicly announced.

"Welcome back to our heroes and heirones. This has been one team, with one dream and one incredible solid victory!," was the reaction of a satisfied James Moloi, the President of Athletics South Africa.

"Teamwork makes the dream work and today we are living proof. Our ongoing dominance of this championship tells the story of the rooted character our South African athletes.

"We want to salute our athletes, coaches, team management and parents for the collective resilience to keep focus on the sole goal of winning the African crown. This was the true South African spirit which we believe will continue to inspire each athlete as they grow and pursue their respective future careers."