The Netball World Youth Cup will no longer take place in June 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the International Netball Federation (INF) has announced.
The governing body, in consultation with the host country Fiji, said that it had "considered the factors that would need to be in place for the international event to go ahead and given the uncertainty regarding them, the decision was made to postpone the event".
The factors evaluated related to the control of the COVID-19 pandemic and risk to health, closures of borders to visitors, consideration of quarantine requirements and restrictions on global travel.
The announcement comes after the recent decision that the competition's qualifying events, which were due to take place in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Oceania before October 2020, were cancelled and that INF World Rankings be used to determine the qualifying teams for those regions impacted.
The INF will now consult with the governing bodies of qualified teams regarding the options for re-scheduling including dates towards the end of 2021 and early 2022. The Fijian government have re-confirmed their commitment to hosting the event.
"We look forward to hosting this event at an appropriate time when the world is a lot safer, international travel restrictions have eased," the Minister for Youth and Sports, Honourable Praveen Kumar Bala said.
"And, when all teams and Fiji as your host nation, are certain of reaping a just return on their investment into the NWYC 2021."
The nations which had already qualified for the competition are; Australia, Barbados, Cook Islands, England, Fiji, Jamaica, Malaysia, Malawi, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Samoa, Scotlan, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St Lucia, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago and Uganda.