"We were tipped off that individuals were told by ASA to come and disrupt the meeting"

The organisers of a meeting at which the country's athletes were meant to discuss the running of the sport and several other issues in Pretoria on Saturday say Athletics South Africa will not stop them from airing their views.

Athletes gathered at the High Performance Centre in the capital to discuss the running of national sports events in the country. But the meeting was called off after a group of allegedly drunk people arrived and disrupted the talks.

Former South African track star Geraldine Pillay believes that ASA officials mobilised the rowdy group to purposefully disrupt the meeting.

"They reeked of alcohol. [They] were shouting ? they were just rowdy.

"We were tipped off that individuals were told by ASA to come and disrupt the meeting," says Pillay.

"It's very unfortunate because it was about the sport ? it wasn't about [ASA President Leonard Chuene] or whoever else is in office, it's about the future of athletics."

Hendrik Mokganyetsi, an ASA board member, was allowed into the closed meeting but walked out because he says issues on the agenda were not discussed.

Pillay says they will not be stopped from meeting because a large number of athletes have shown a keen interest in discussing the future of the sport.

The athletics governing body has denied the claims levelled against it.

Caster Semenya

Chuene and ASA's leadership have come under fire over the handling of the Caster Semenya gender debacle.

Semenya's gender was called into question after she won the women?s 800 metres event at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin in August.

Initially, Chuene said the 18-year-old?s gender was not tested by local doctors before the world championships, saying ASA was confident she was a female.

Two weeks ago he admitted he lied about this and that Semenya did undergo tests in South Africa.