The Asia Netball Federation (ANF) has announced the decision to cancel the Asian Youth Netball Championships 2021 due to the on-going Covid-19 pandemic. The games were due to take place in Korea.
ANF consulted with the 12 countries taking part in the event to understand their views. 8 countries gave feedback with only 1 country confirming they would be able to attend but there was uncertainty around vaccinations.
INF consulted with ANF on this decision ensuring that health and safety was the top priority for netball and its stakeholders.
The decision took into account:
- Almost all countries could not confirm when their players would be vaccinated (only Maldives’ youth team has been vaccinated).
- Countries could not be sure if they would need to quarantine on their return. All but 1 country said that they would be responsible for the quarantine costs and testing.
- Even if there was just 1 case of the virus in the teams then the impact will be too great. This could impact on the reputation of ANF, INF and the sport.
- The number of cases across Asia are increasing with some countries exploring the option of further lockdowns.
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