Durban Commonwealth Games face red card

South Africa's hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games hangs by a thread after crucial documents were submitted at the last minute.

Host city Durban risks losing the event after, among other things, missing early deadlines for submitting mandatory documents, failing to make a host city payment and not establishing a local organising committee.

"The criteria are the solid foundations upon which any successful Games and legacy plan [are] built. Every prospective host city must meet these criteria," a Commonwealth Games Foundation spokesman said.

Last month the foundation gave South Africa until yesterday to get everything in order - and confirmed to The Times that documents had been submitted.

However, this does not mean that the Games will definitely come to Durban.

"The CGF has now received final submissions from the Durban bid team against these criteria and will evaluate the submissions thoroughly before making a final recommendation to the CGF executive board on Durban's ability to host the Games in accordance with its original bid and the conditions of the award.

"This process and any final decision may take up to six weeks, given the importance of the matter," the spokesman said.

He said the federation was determined to make the 2022 event a success, even if it meant South Africa was not involved.

"The CGF's focus remains on maintaining the momentum and impact of the previous successful Games in Glasgow (in 2014) and the next Games on the Gold Coast (2018) to ensure another successful and inspiring Games for athletes and fans in 2022 - either in Durban or an alternative host city," the spokesman said.

SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee CE Tubby Reddy confirmed that all outstanding documents had been submitted. "We started last week and then continued on Tuesday. The final two documents were submitted yesterday," he said.

Reddy said he was "most certainly" confident Durban would be the first African host of the Commonwealth Games in six years' time.

"It's now up to the CGF to let us know," he said.