African athletes country switch made tough

The president of the confederation of African athletics Hamad Kalkaba Malbourn has deplored the loss of African talents to European countries.

Citing cases of African athletes who are creating world records as they grab medals for other countries, Kalkaban Malbourn says regulations on the change of nationality must be put in place.

As international laws are becoming flexible, Kalkaba Malboun says the phenomenon of nationality change for athletes is disturbing not only in Africa, but also among Europeans and Asians.

Rules of the International Athletics federation indicate that any athlete who has already competed for a particular country must wait for three years before changing his or her nationality but agreements among federations may shorten the period to one year.

Another provision says an athlete who resides in any country for three years can request and obtain nationality to perform for that country.