Youth Worlds - Danes weigh-in over world champs visa scandal
by Sail-World.com on 1 Jan 2016
Three sailors - Four World Champions from Israel - Mens U-19, U-17 amd Womens U-17 and U-19 World Champions - 2015 RS:X Class Youth World Championships, Gdynia, Poland RS:X class.com
http://www.rsxclass.com
The President of the Danish Sailing Association - the national sailing authority in Denmark, has called for the status of the World Sailing Youth Championships to be revoked after two leading Israeli competitors were refused immigration visas by the Malaysian Government.
Two other national authorities, US Sailing and Yachting New Zealand, have come out with different statements but echoing similar sentiments to the Danish Sailing Association.
The statement from Hans Natorp, President of the Danish Sailing Association released a few hours ago:
Statement from the Danish Sailing Association regarding the 2015 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship
The current situation at the 2015 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Langkawi, Malaysia where the Israeli Team is unable to attend because of the non-existing diplomatic connections between the two countries are unacceptable for World Sailing and the sport of sailing.
Separating sports and international politics has never been easy and not always possible. Nevertheless, a world governing body like World Sailing and the organising host for World Sailing Events both have an
extended obligation to ensure that all World Sailing Member National Authorities (MNA) can send their teams to participate on equal terms.
All World Sailing MNA’s must have equal access to participate at all World Sailing Events.
The exclusion of an MNA team from participation must never be the result of bureaucratic obstructions or political interference, which could and should have been foreseen and dealt with in due time.
We will raise this matter in World Sailing Committees and Council to ensure that World Sailing can and will enforce necessary actions in time, so we can hold the organising host of World Sailing Events responsible to the terms under which they were appointed.
It is furthermore our recommendation to the World Sailing Executive Committee to recognise that the participation at the 2015 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship is non-representative and therefore consider, if the events status as an official world championship should be revoked.
Two Israeli Youth sailors were denied entry to the ISAF/World Sailing Championships for what were initially described as security reasons by the Malaysian authorities but were later confirmed by the Malaysian Minister of Youth and Sport to be politically motivated.
The two Israeli Youth sailors Yoav Omer and Nov Drihan had in July 2015 won the Mens U-19 and Womens U-17 and -19 World Championships conducted under the auspices of the RS:X Class and had the status of a class world championship recognised by the ISAF.
In the U-19 World Championship Youv Omer (ISR) beat the current points leader in the ISAF/World Sailing Youth Championship underway in Langkawi, Titouan Le Bosq (FRA) and second overall, Francisco Birkner (ARG) who finished third and second in the earlier class World Championship in Portugal.
Nov Drihan (ISR) was even more dominant in the Womens World Championships winning both the U-19 and U-17 World titles. Stefania Elfutina (RUS) is currently leading the Womens RS:X event in Langkawi and finished second in the RS:X class Worlds 12pts behind the 17year old Israeli sailor. Drihan won five races in the Womens World In Portugal. Elfutina won four races in the 12 race event.
The political decision by Malaysia to deny the double World Champion entry for the Youth Worlds denied the resumption of their rivalry between the Israeli and the Russian.
The ISAF/World Sailing Youth Championships are required by the world body to be open to all countries in good standing with the ISAF/World Sailing. The Youth Worlds allow one entry per country as in the Olympics. The Class Worlds are open entry, and the Men's event attracted a field of 98 competitors and 38 sailors in the Women's Worlds.
There are 29 competitors in the Boys event being sailed in Langkawi, and 20 entries in the Girls fleet.
World Sailing is conducting an internal inquiry into the failure of the Malaysians to issue immigration visas, but as the world body is the co-organiser of the regatta they would appear to have a conflict of interest.
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