After it was chosen as the first African country to host soccer's premier competition, South Africa will become the first African country to contest the America's Cup in 2007 following the immediate acceptance of its challenge today.

The news was relayed back to South Africa on Wednesday night by an elated Captain Salvatore Sarno, managing director of the South African America's Cup Challenge Syndicate, who was in Geneva to submit the challenge on behalf of the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town.

Captain Sarno said contrary to expectations the formalities of acceptance were finalised within a couple of hours. This had come as a surprise, as some previous challenge submissions had taken a day or two to complete before being accepted.