Die für den November in der Türkei geplanten Europameisterschaften für Herren, Damen, Senioren, Ladies, Rollstuhlsportler und U23 sind abgesagt. Auch die ursprünglich anschließend geplanten Eurotour-Events in Antalya werden nicht stattfinden. „Es ist ein trauriger Tag für unseren Sport“, so EPBF-Präsident Gre Leenders. „Wir bedanken uns beim türkischen Billardverband, der alles Mögliche getan hat, um die Events in sicherer Umgebung stattfinden zu lassen.“
Aufgrund der gestiegenen Fallzahlen rund um die Welt und die vielen Unklarheiten bezüglich der Sicherheit beim Reisen sei es „die beste Entscheidung gewesen, ein furchtbares Jahr 2021 jetzt zu beenden und sich auf 2021 zu konzentrieren. Die Sicherheit der Athleten und Mitarbeiter ist von größter Bedeutung. Auch wenn sehr gute Sicherheitsmaßnahmen getroffen wurden, ist es unserer Meinung nach noch zu früh für ein solches Großereignis“, so Leenders.
Text und Bild: EPBF
Hier der Originalbericht:
European Championships cancelled!
The European governing body for pool sports in Europe, the EPBF, today
announced that the upcoming events to be staged in Turkey will be cancelled.
The Dynamic Billard European championships for men, women, wheelchair &
U23’s along with the Dynamic Billard Seniors and ladies championships that were
planned in November will no longer take place.
“It is a sad day for our sport said the EPBF president Gre Leenders, we tried
everything to make these events happen and for that effort, I have to say a big
thank you to the Turkish billiard federaUon who did their upmost to provide the
safest environment possible”
With the recent spike in cases around the world and the uncertainty surrounding
travel and health insurance, Gre Leenders explained “we felt it best to put this
terrible year to bed and focus on 2021. The safety of our staff and athletes was
paramount in our decision and although good safety measures were in place, the
EPBF board felt it was sUll too soon for such a gathering of internaUonal athletes”
The cancellaUon of the European championships has also had a knock-on effect
too as the Dynamic Billard Eurotour Antalya Open and the Predator women’s
Antalya Open which were due to follow the championships are also cancelled. In
its 28 year history, the Eurotour has never had so few events in a single year, only
one event took place in 2020 and that was in February at the heart of the
outbreak in Venice Italy.
Ironically, it will be Venice again in February to start the new year with the first of
six planned Eurotour events. The 2021 sports calendar can be found on the EPBF
website www.epbf.com
With most internaUonal pool events cancelled or postponed, there’s sUll plenty
of archived acUon to be found on our media partners web pla^orm, visit
www.kozoom.com and see hundreds of great matches from the European
Championships and the Eurotours. The EPBF and Kozoom have also teamed up
with Billiard Network who have a dedicated YouTube channel with some great
matches from past and present.