Thursday, April 29, 2010

South Africa ready to receive Obama at World Cup

By Khanyisa Tabata
29 April 2010


Soccer World Cup organising committee chief executive Danny Jordaan says South Africa is ready to receive United States President Barack Obama should his schedule allow him to attend the tournament.

Obama expressed the wish to come to South Africa when he met last year at the White House with Fifa president Sepp Blatter. Jordaan says they are expecting a high number of other heads of states during the World Cup.

Blatter and Jordaan are also hoping that former president Nelson Mandela will be able to attend the opening ceremony.


But his grandson Chief Mandla Mandela told journalists the 91-year-old statesman would certainly not be attending the tournament.

He says there are no immediate health worries for his grandfather, but they are trying to limit his engagements. The family and the Nelson Mandela Foundation will make a final decision closer to the start of the tournament on the 11th of June.

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