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No world titles for UK, NZ, US, Canada and Oz?

Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Dinghy classes
Forum Name: Dinghy development
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URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12411
Printed Date: 08 Jul 25 at 1:41am
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Topic: No world titles for UK, NZ, US, Canada and Oz?
Posted By: Chris 249
Subject: No world titles for UK, NZ, US, Canada and Oz?
Date Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 1:20am
I see that Oman has had to give up holding the Youth Worlds because ISAF's new policy that demands that athletes of all nations must be treated equally under national laws and immigration policies; "the Summit agreed that for all competitions taking place under the auspices of an International Federation or National Olympic Committee or their continental or regional associations, it has to be ensured that all athletes from all their members can enter a country to compete and are treated equally. It was agreed that should this rule not be respected, the event in question cannot serve as a qualification event for the Olympic Games or any other championship."


The issue is that as far as I can see, none of the major English-speaking sailing nations are assured of being able to hold a valid regatta under this policy. All of them have policies under which athletes from some countries may receive discriminatory treatment, and sailing as a sport is not going to be able to change those policies.

Here in Oz I think we still maintain a confidential list of nations whose citizens have a statistically high chance of overstaying their visas. Athletes from such countries can be denied visas because it is considered that there is too high a risk that they will overstay, even when athletes in identical circumstances but from low-risk countries are granted their visas.

Canada did the same thing just last year;

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/canada-blocks-ugandan-kayakers-from-ottawa-river-world-championship" rel="nofollow - http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/canada-blocks-ugandan-kayakers-from-ottawa-river-world-championship

The UK has refused visas to athletes from a particular country as recently as three months ago;

http://%20timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/boxing/Britain-risks-forfeiting-boxing-clash-after-Moroccan-visas-refused/articleshow/51446934.cms" rel="nofollow - http:// timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/boxing/Britain-risks-forfeiting-boxing-clash-after-Moroccan-visas-refused/articleshow/51446934.cms

The same thing occurs in the USA, where apparently professionals from Cuba are not allowed to compete;

http://athletesvisa.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/normalization-of-relations-with-cuba.html" rel="nofollow - http://athletesvisa.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/normalization-of-relations-with-cuba.html

I'm not sure how NZ can actually fulfil ISAF's new requirements. They have a list of certain countries from which athletes will (according to the Immigration Dept website) be automatically granted a visa. Athletes from other countries must apply. One would assume that the application process will bring a chance of refusal, therefore there is unequal treatment.

Such decisions don't have to be political - Samoa denied entry to athletes from one nations because of fears of the Ebola virus. Canada, Australia and other countries instituted wider restrictions on people from certain countries because of the Ebola virus. So what happens if someone similar occurs again in the lead up to a worlds in the UK, USA or similar Western nation? 

I'm NOT defending the actions of Malaysia in regard to the last Youth Worlds. Malaysia is a country that operates under racist laws even when dealing with its own citizens. But how did ISAF (whoops, World Sailing) adopt a position that will apparently prevent future major titles in some of the sport's core countries, including the top two Olympic sailing nations?

Frankly one wonders if the new policy may not have been a poorly-researched knee jerk reaction brought in after pressure from people in the sport who didn't do their own research. And luckily (from some angles) not many people from the affected countries do world sailing titles. But for how long can we just keep on hoping that no one from (say) Uganda or Cuba will enter an ISAF event in Australia, the USA, Canada or the UK? And in what country in the world can the ISAF policy apply? 


Replies:
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 7:47am
But the rules are made up to suit the western world's version of a moral compass, and all the countries you have mentioned are "the good guys".

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Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686

Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 8:02am
You've misunderstood their ruling entirely.  It doesn't apply to all countries.  It will only be applied to countries that think Israel act disgracefully as a state. 
The issue with Malaysia panned out in all the sailing press (even Y&Y) exactly the same as it does with every issue that concerns Israel.  Whilst Malaysia's postition was, at best, tricky to defend, no one from the press at all even considered doing a proper interview sitting down with the organising authorities and getting their full side of events.  Everyone got Israel's version of events, but all we got from the other side was apparently some person overhead someone else say it was maybe done for political reasons..... yeah great objective reporting, well done. 
It's amazing how whenever Israel claims victimisation, no one does a full proper investigation of the other side's story.  Obviously Sailing Anarchy were the worst and most disgraceful on this, but they're American and extreme pro Israel, anti-muslim, with about as much objectivity as the british tabloid press, so that's to be expected. 
Several nationalities aren't allowed to travel to Israel, and if a championship were held there, wouldn't kick up a fuss because they wouldn't have to be denied entry as they'd be too sh*t scared of going there anyway..... but that wasn't mentioned in Y&Y or anywhere else either.  You know, because no one bothered to ask. 

This ruling has nothing to do with equality, and is exactly the knee jerk reaction you suggest it might be.  All they're worried about is, can those "other" nations stop us and our friends coming over? 

Posted By: Chris Turner
Date Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 4:16pm
Youth Worlds 2017 are scheduled for Israel...Lets see what happens...

Posted By: Presuming Ed
Date Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 4:53pm
My prediction: plenty of no shows blamed on a breakdown of negotiations about teams bringing their own security. 


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