Ethiopia rejects Banyana's request

 　　JOHANNESBURG, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The South African Football Association's request for a postponement¹ of Banyana Banyana's second leg 2012 London Olympic qualifying match against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa on September 11 has been rejected by their opponents who are insisting that the game should go ahead as fixture² by the Confederation of African Football.

　　When CAF and Fifa drew the fixture list of the 2012 London Olympic Games, Banyana Banyana were paired with Ethiopia in the final first leg qualifier in South Africa on August 28 and the second leg match penciled in for Addis Ababa on the weekend of September 11.

　　The other semifinal sees Nigeria playing against Cameroon on the same weekends and the winners in the two-legged qualifiers qualify for the London Olympics. However, that was before Banyana also qualified⁴ for the All Africa Games that get underway in Maputo on September 3-18.

　　The All Africa Games sees Banyana opening their program against Zimbabwe on September 5. They then play Tanzania on September 8 and round off their group phase of the tournament against Ghana on September 11, the same day that they are also supposed to face Ethiopia in the second leg Olympic Games qualifier in Addis Ababa.

　　"We wrote a letter to CAF notifying them of the clash in fixtures⁵ as our second leg Olympic fixture clashed with our final All Africa Games group match against Ghana," said Nomsa Mahlangu, the chairperson of women football and Safa National Executive member.

　　"However, we have just received a response from CAF informing us that they notified the Ethiopian federation³ about our predicament, but that our request has been turned down and the Ethiopians are insisting that the games should go ahead as scheduled.

1 postponement   

n.推迟

参考例句：

• He compounded with his creditors for a postponement of payment. 他与债权人达成协议延期付款。
• Rain caused the postponement of several race-meetings. 几次赛马大会因雨延期。

2 fixture   

n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款

参考例句：

• Lighting fixture must be installed at once.必须立即安装照明设备。
• The cordless kettle may now be a fixture in most kitchens.无绳电热水壶现在可能是多数厨房的固定设备。

3 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

4 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

5 fixtures   

（房屋等的）固定装置( fixture的名词复数 )； 如（浴盆、抽水马桶）； 固定在某位置的人或物； （定期定点举行的）体育活动

参考例句：

• The insurance policy covers the building and any fixtures contained therein. 保险单为这座大楼及其中所有的设施保了险。
• The fixtures had already been sold and the sum divided. 固定设备已经卖了，钱也分了。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹