OLYMPICS:"ALL doors are still open" as regards a possible South African bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics, the countrys sports minister Fikile Mbalula said yeseterday.

After the successful hosting of the 2010 football World Cup it was widely expected South Africa would enter the race to stage the 2020 Games.

However, the South African government in May quashed the idea by announcing it would not support an Olympic bid, preferring instead to concentrate on “the delivery of basic services to all South Africans.”

But Mbalula said that growing support, both domestically and internationally, meant South Africa could still consider a bid for either the 2020 or 2024 Summer Games.

“We are not closing any doors, all doors are open,” Mbalula said in Durban at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) 123rd Session.