Federation Focus: Bach Praises WBSC's New Headquarters

(ATR) The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) moves into its new home near Lausanne.

WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari welcomed 30 invited guests including IOC President Thomas Bach and ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti to Monday’s official opening of the permanent WBSC global headquarters. Travel restrictions and Swiss regulations due to the Covid-19 pandemic limited the size of the ceremony.

Bach says he is "really impressed" with the headquarters "because of its elegance, its style, its functionality and also its commitment to the environmental protection and the sustainable building".

The building, located in the Lausanne suburb of Pully, has been named "Home Plate" and is owned and operated by the WBSC.

The WBSC was previously renting office space in the Maison du Sport International in Lausanne.

Ricci Bitti applauded the WBSC for keeping its headquarters near the IOC.

"This illustrates the strong Olympic relationship which baseball and softball has, and this is very important for a sport which does not have its roots in Europe. The fact baseball and softball is so close to the IOC provides a very strong message of unity," said the ASOIF president.

Fraccari took the opportunity to make the case for baseball and softball to be featured permanently at the Olympics.

"Today, we are a unified, global sport with a worldwide fan and player base and a powerful commercial engine driving our continued growth. We count 211 national federations and millions of players - male and female - covering baseball and softball and international competitions for all age categories starting at U-12," he said.

The inauguration of the headquarters was preceded by a tree planting ceremony in memory of the former President of the International Softball Federation and WBSC co-founder Don Porter, who died last month.

Pandemic Forces Changes for FIG

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) postpones its congress and begins the search for a new host for next year’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

The 83rd FIG Congress, scheduled for Antalya, Turkey from Oct. 23-25, 2020, has been officially postponed until Oct. 29-31, 2021. FIG says all but six of its 148 member federations agreed with the decision by the executive committee.

"In view of the massive disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we must accept that the situation is not the same in every country, and must not deprive any federation of the opportunity to make its voice heard at the General Assembly," FIG President Morinari Watanabe said in a statement.

No congress in 2020 means no elections this year. The terms of office for all elected FIG officials has been extended to the end of 2021 for the current cycle and the end of 2024 for the next cycle.

That means Watanabe will stay on as president until Dec. 31, 2021. He was elected in 2016 and his term was due to expire this year, though he has indicated an interest in a second term.

Also on Tuesday, the Danish Gymnastics Federation (DIF) blamed Covid-19 for its decision to withdraw from hosting the 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

The event was scheduled for Oct. 18-24, 2021 in Copenhagen. The DIF says it cannot assume the financial risk of hosting an event that could be seriously affected by the ongoing pandemic.

Instead, the DIF plans to work on bidding for the 2025 edition.

The FIG, in a statement, says its executive committee "will shortly consider all consequences resulting from this situation, including the launch of a new bidding procedure for this event".

ITF Annual General Meeting Goes Virtual

The International Tennis Federation will hold its 2020 Conference and Annual General Meeting online in November.

It was originally scheduled to take place in Madrid from Nov. 21-23 ahead of the Davis Cup Finals. But with the Finals postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ITF has decided that the 2020 AGM would be held virtually on Nov. 21.

Conference webinars to provide updates and discussion on key topics will be arranged prior to the AGM.

The federation says delegates from national and regional associations will be able to attend the AGM electronically in real-time, ask questions by both video and audio, and vote via a secure log in.

Massive Changes to UCI 2020 Calendar

The International Cycling Union released the latest changes to its events calendar earlier this week.

Six world championships have been cancelled for 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The BMX World Championships in Houston, originally postponed from May 26-31, have been cancelled at the request of organizers. The Texas city is currently one of the hot spots for Covid-19 in the United States.

The 2020 UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championships, which were due to be held in Pra Loup, France, have been cancelled, as have the 2020 UCI Mountain Bike Four-cross World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy.

Also not being held in 2020 are the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, comprising the BMX Freestyle (Park and Flatland) and Trials World Championships.

The 2020 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, due to be held in Vancouver on Sept. 9-12, have been cancelled at the request of the organizers.

The 2020 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships, which were due to be held in Cairo from August 16-21 are also cancelled. The same venue will host the 2021 edition in April instead of Tel Aviv. Israeli organizers have agreed to postpone hosting to 2022.

Many world cup events have also been cancelled though other world championships and world cups are still on the schedule. The first road races are to take place this month and the UCI WorldTour and UCI Women’s WorldTour are expected to resume in August.

But UCI President David Lappartient admits the changes to the calendar are probably not over, reiterating "the restart of the season, whatever the discipline, will depend on the evolution of the health situation in the organizing countries".

Click here for the latest updated calendar for every discipline.

Written by Gerard Farek

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