Federation Focus: FINA Makes a Splash for Athletes

(ATR) The International Swimming Federation (FINA) unveils a more than $6 million support plan to assist athletes competing at the postponed Tokyo 2020.

The federation’s plan is divided into three programs, the largest being $4 million in grants to be distributed to at least 160 National Federations for athlete training, competition and living expenses.

Another $2 million is earmarked for athletes chosen to participate in the FINA AScholarship program, either at FINA training centers or at National Federation training facilities.

Lastly, $460,000 in grants will be made available to the five Continental Organizations to enable supplemental resources to athletes.

The funds are designed to alleviate hardships related to training and competitive opportunities due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The primary objective of this program is to provide direct assistance to athletes preparing to compete in Tokyo. FINA recognizes the importance of support to all athletes, including elite athletes with medal prospects, as well as less experienced athletes from developing countries trying to attain Olympic qualifying standards," said FINA president Julio Maglione in a statement.

FINA says the new plan allows for "a high level of flexibility" in getting the athletes what they need to reach their potential. Many previous plans by the national federations and continental organizations cannot take place due to travel restrictions.

FIS Gender Terminology Update

The International Ski Federation nears completion on its project to change the official FIS terminology from "Ladies" to "Women" across all platforms.

The federation says after a little over a year the only remaining ongoing work is tied to seasonal documents and other ad-hoc documents that will be adapted with next editions.

All references in the FIS database, calendars and athlete pages have been changed from "ladies" or "L" to "women" or "W". The FIS Communications department went through all FIS documents across all disciplines and departments to find any passages that needed to be updated to the new guidelines.

Every page of the website was scanned for gendered language and the term "ladies".

Besides the term "ladies", words referencing the male gender such as "he", "his", "him", "himself" or "Chairman" were identified and replaced with gender neutral alternatives.

"Language shapes reality and people’s perception at an unconscious level and therefore the language in our publications and rules needs to reflect that FIS and our Sport stands for full participation and activity for all genders," Sarah Lewis FIS Secretary General said.

Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 Postponed

The International Cricket Council confirms that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia will now be played in October and November of next year due to the COVID-10 global pandemic.

Working closely with key stakeholders, including governments and medical experts, the ICC said their "number one priority" was the safety of the athletes and everyone involved.

"The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world." ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said.

The ICC Board created windows for the next three ICC men’s events. The 2022 T20 World Cup and the 2023 Cricket World Cup will also be held in the same October-November time frame.

"Our Members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Moving the Men’s Cricket World Cup to a later window is a critical element of this and gives us a better chance of maintaining the integrity of the qualification process." Sawhney said.

As of now, the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand in February is still on, though the ICC says it will continue to evaluate the pandemic ahead of the tournament.

ITF announces plans to return to play for various tours

The International Tennis Federation has announced a plan to return to play for the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors, the ITF Seniors Tour, the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour and the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour.

After approval by the ITF Board, each tour’s committees have drawn up plans to return to play this year, with ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors and the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour returning August 31.

No set date for the ITF Seniors Tour or the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour have been set, but both committees have decided that it will not happen before August 31.

"We are pleased to be announcing steps towards a return to competitive tennis across all ITF tours," said ITF President, David Haggerty, "This year has been a challenging one for all of us in the tennis world, and while we are all eager to resume the tours as soon as possible in order to restore playing and earning opportunities for players across the world, we must ensure that we take the appropriate steps to make events as safe as possible when they restart."

All ITF tours were suspended this past March in response to the growing COVID-19 global pandemic. The ITF World Tennis Tour previously announced their return for men’s and women’s play starting the week of August 17.

Written by Gerard Farekand Jose Chavez

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