Athletics
Oscar's fellow athletes suffering
2013-03-10 15:29
Cape Town - Murder accused
Oscar Pistorius’s waning popularity is also having an adverse effect on his fellow athletes.
In-Site Athlete Management, the company which manages Pistorius’s athletics affairs, has revealed it was forced to cancel a planned tour to Australia for South African 400m hurdles champion
Cornel Fredericks.
Fredericks (21) and Pistorius (26), both team-mates at the Tuks athletics club, were scheduled to participate in Sydney on Saturday and Perth later this week.
“I had to cancel all the races because my athletes would get a lot of media attention in Australia due to the situation Oscar now finds himself in,” Peet van Zyl, the athletes’ agent, told
Rapport.
“But we’re trying our best to schedule other races overseas.”
In-Site Athlete Management also manages other local athletes like
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, Janet Wienand en
Frantz Kruger.
Pistorius stands accused of murdering Steenkamp in his Pretoria home on Valentine's Day.
He was granted R1m bail on Friday, February 22. He was allowed to pay an initial instalment of R100 000, with the balance due by 1 March.
New developments in the case came on Friday when Pistorius's legal team
challenged his bail conditions as unwarranted and unfair.
In papers before the North Gauteng High Court, his lawyers argued that Pistorius should to be able to travel, given that Magistrate Desmond Nair found during his bail application that he was not a flight risk.
They argue he should be able to travel if given permission from his case investigating officer.
His next court appearance is on June 4.