Sascoc missed trick

I clearly remember our conversation about qualifying and participation standards during a cocktail function at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

South Africa's chef de mission was questioning the wisdom of including medal no-hopers.

Team SA did pretty well at those Games, ending fifth on the medals table to improve on their sixth spot in Manchester four years earlier.

Swimmer Roland Schoeman bagged four gongs, becoming the country's most decorated competitor from a single Games (Chad Le Clos surpassed that with five in 2010).

LJ van Zyl starred with a 400m hurdles gold and a fantastic anchor leg in the 4x400m relay to take South Africa from fifth position to silver. Welterweight Bongani Mwelase claimed South Africa's first boxing gold since 1958.

Team SA oozed success stories, but there were plenty of misses too, like the women's hockey team ending seventh, and the men eighth.

The team official, Gideon Sam, was arguing that only medal contenders should compete at the Commonwealth showpiece.

Since taking over as SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee president in late 2008, Sam has got his way.

To qualify for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow from July 23 to August 3, individuals and teams must be ranked in the top five of the Commonwealth by the May 31 deadline.

But this system has problems. For one, many domestic hopefuls will have to wait until the final minute to make sure they have qualified, which creates unnecessary uncertainty for them.

Furthermore, this qualification standard is also extraordinarily stiff - take the 200m butterfly, for example.

In 2006, not a single South African competitor was good enough to enter this race, but this year there's a great chance South Africa could bag two medals here, courtesy of Le Clos, the Olympic, world and defending champion, plus any one of three other swimmers.

At the highly competitive inter-college gala in the US this past weekend, three South Africa swimmers made the 200-yard fly final; Dylan Bosch won in a record time, Michael Meyer ended sixth and Sebastien Rousseau eighth.

On last year's rankings, South Africa would have only two swimmers compete in this race in Glasgow - one short of the maximum three entrants per event that each nation is allowed. Had Sascoc instead opted to use the 2010 Commonwealth bronze medal time of 1:57.26 as the 2014 selection standard, or even the 2012 Olympic qualifying time of 1:56.86, then on last year's rankings, the country would enter three swimmers.

Surely one would rather have three medal options than two?

Perhaps I'm being unduly hard on Sascoc. The Australians are going with a 1:56.10 qualifying standard for the 200m fly, and England have set down 1:55.64, which is faster than any Englishman has actually swum in the past three years.

That is ridiculous - if every Commonwealth country used that same standard, only three or four swimmers would qualify to compete in the 200m fly.

Even so, that doesn't justify Sascoc's ranking system, which is tough on other sports too.

South Africa's netball and men's hockey teams are both ranked sixth, and the amateur boxers lost their rankings when the country's federation was suspended for a few months last year by the international body.

Netball is not an Olympic sport, but hockey and boxing are. If they were to be omitted from South Africa's Glasgow team, how would that help them prepare for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro?

I've always argued that the Commonwealth Games should be used as a training ground for the Olympics, and therefore should employ easier qualifying criteria. I guess Sam and I might have the same conversation again in Glasgow.