The 2022 Commonwealth Games will no longer be held in the South African city of Durban, according to a report from the BBC, apparently after the city missed fulfilling certain requirements in time.
Later on, South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee President Gideon Sam confirmed to HeraldLive that “the Commonwealth Games Federation is looking for an alternative to Durban.”
No other cities had originally bid to host the 2022 Games, but officials from Liverpool, England, have apparently come forward and offered their city as a potential staging grounds.
South African Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula spoke to the BBC in February and indicated that financial concerns may be cause for the country and city to drop the bid.
“We gave it our best shot but we can’t go beyond. If the country says we don’t have this money, we can’t,” he said.
The Commonwealth Games, which includes athletes from all countries in the British Commonwealth (including England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Australia, South Africa, India and others) are held on a quadrennial basis in even non-Olympic years.
Recent hosts for the Games include Melbourne in 2006, Delhi in 2010 and Glasgow in 2014. The 2018 edition of the Games will be held on the Gold Coast of Australia.
Read more from the BBC here and from HeraldLive here.