Sailing World Cup events - Major drama with shock withdrawal
by Sail-World.com NZL on 3 Mar 2016
Laser Radial sailing in the 2015 Sailing World Cup Final - Oman NZL Sailing Team
At the February 2016 meeting of the World Sailing Executive Committee in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it was agreed that a strategic review will be undertaken of the Sailing World Cup from 2017-2020 in order to ensure that the event series remains the best possible showcase for the sport on the journey to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The move follows the withdrawal of financial support by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority after a meeting with World Sailing Chief Executive, Andy Hunt, and World Sailing President, Carlo Croce, who met with Abu Dhabi organisers at the end of February.
Following the World Sailing Executive Committee decision in November 2015 to host the 2016 World Sailing Annual Conference in Europe rather than Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority took the decision to withdraw their financial support of the 2016 Sailing World Cup Final and future editions of the event.
World Sailing will seek a venue partner for the 2016 Sailing World Cup Final and contractual discussions are ongoing with an alternative venue. World Sailing expect to confirm dates for events in the final quarter of 2016 by the end of March.
The Sailing World Cup review will be concluded and proposals presented at the World Sailing mid-year meeting in Lausanne in May 2016.
The comprehensive review will include considering continental representation, calendar and venues, events, sailor quotas, ranking points, Para World Sailing and the role of known and future Olympic venues within the calendar. Sailors will continue to be placed at the heart of the Sailing World Cup, ensuring it is attractive to athletes, commercial partners and the media.
It was agreed that any existing World Sailing contracts with Sailing World Cup Organising Authorities for 2016 would be honoured.
Recently World Sailing announced that another Middle East nation, Oman had elected to withdraw its hosting of the 2016 Youth World Championships after World Sailing requested all host countries of major sailing events to confirm that they would be able to comply with new anti-discrimination requirements introduced following the failure to issue entry visas to two Israeli youth world champions in the RS:X windsurfer event.
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