Federation Focus: IIHF Seeking Alternatives for Belarus

(ATR) The International Ice Hockey Federation is actively searching for a replacement co-host for the 2021 World Championship.

The IIHF Council is expected to decide at a meeting in late January whether Belarus will remain a co-host alongside Latvia, according to comments made by IIHF president René Fasel and reported by TASS.

"We have to prepare backup options if we fail to come to Belarus," Fasel said, adding that there have been talks "with other potential organizers".

"If a decision is made not to go to Minsk, then we will immediately begin a discussion about a possible country that will replace Belarus. But nothing has been officially approved yet," Fasel added. The IIHF Council is scheduled to meet on January 25-26.

Calls to strip Belarus of the role have grown louder due to human rights abuse against athletes and political discrimination by the government of Alexander Lukashenko. Widespread protests across Belarus began in August after Lukashenko was re-elected president in what is considered a rigged vote.

Lukashenko, who is also the president of the Belarus NOC, is one of three senior NOC officials sanctioned and banned from attending the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee due to the abuses against athletes who have spoken out against the regime.

A planned meeting last month between Lukashenko, Fasel and IIHF secretary general Horst Lichtner had to be postponed when the two IIHF officials tested positive for COVID-19. Fasel told TASS last week that the meeting would be rescheduled for after Orthodox Christmas, which is January 7.

The world championship is scheduled for May 21- June 6.

No Positive Tests in Thailand Badminton Bubble

Badminton World Federation (BWF) reports that all 824 participants in the Green Zone quarantine bubble in Bangkok tested negative for COVID-19 ahead of the Asian leg of the World Tour.

The Green Zone consists of players and their entourage and all stakeholders who come into direct contact with them, such as umpires, line judges, personnel from BWF, Badminton Association of Thailand, medical staff, and TV production crew.

Players are now cleared for training under strict safety protocols. The quarantine measures will remain in place throughout the mandatory 14-day observation period, which includes next week’s YONEX Thailand Open (January 12-17), the first of three consecutive tournaments in Thailand that culminates with the final day of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals on January 31.

All international participants were required to submit a negative test in their own country before departing for Bangkok.

Kento Momota, the world’s top ranked men’s badminton player, tested positive for COVID-19 at Tokyo’s Narita Airport on January 3 prior to the Japanese team’s departure.

No other members of the delegation tested positive but the Nippon Badminton Association (NBA) cancelled the trip and withdrew all its players.

Earlier this week the Department of Disease Control of Thailand decided that in addition to no spectators at the three tournaments, no media outside the Green Zone bubble would be allowed to attend.

BWF and Badminton Association of Thailand (BAT) say they will provide media with content including images, flash quotes and video interviews with players through the BWF Digital Media Hub.

Women’s Lacrosse World Championships Postponed

The World Lacrosse Women’s World Championship has been pushed back a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originally scheduled for July 2021, the tournament is now scheduled for June 29-July 9, 2022. The venue, Towson University in Maryland, USA, remains the same. As many as 30 national teams are expected to compete.

"This is welcome good news for athletes and the wider World Lacrosse family as we begin the new year," said World Lacrosse President Sue Redfern. "In particular, we would like to thank our host National Governing Body, US Lacrosse, and our host venue, Towson University, for their continued support and partnership in making certain athletes from around the world will have the opportunity to represent their nation at the highest level of World Championship competition in 2022."

The new dates will mean a busy summer of 2022 for international lacrosse.

The women’s world championship wraps up just three days before the women’s competition at the 2022 World Games begins in Birmingham, Alabama on July 12.

The World Games, which was also postponed by a year due to the pandemic, runs from July 7-17, 2022.

World Lacrosse also says it expects to confirm the revised dates for the 2022 Men’s U21 World Championship in the next 60 days.

Written by Gerard Farek

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