The International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) has to find new hosting nations for Goalball Asia-Pacific Championships and the 2022 IBSA Goalball World Championships to be conducted in this year.
Previously those championships had been planned to be conducted in South Asan, Korea and or Hangzhou, China respectively in March and in June. However, the tournaments had been postponed with travel restrictions due to the Covid pandemic early of this year.
The Korean Blind Sports Association decided to postpone Asan 2022 in light of a mandatory seven-day quarantine for all foreign nationals entering the country, regardless of vaccination status, which would make attending the competition difficult for the teams, international referees and classifiers.
The Chinese Sports Association for the Disabled cancelled the World Championships for similar reasons. International travel to China is currently very difficult with few direct flights operating.
IBSA Goalball is now looking for another host for the next edition of both championships.
IBSA Goalball Sport Director, Alexey Baryaev, said: “We appreciate the difficulties faced by the Local Organising Committees to host a viable event when strict travel restrictions are in place, as well as the additional burden entry requirements would put on teams and international officials.
“Whilst the world is still grappling with the pandemic, we have to be prepared for these situations and be responsive. We are now working hard to find alternative hosts so that we can keep the calendar intact for 2022. Some countries have already come forward to state their interest and we are working with them,” he said.
The Asia-Pacific Championships are the last of three regional Championships to take place as qualifiers for the 2022 World Championships. The preferred time frame for the Asia-Pacific Championships to take place is June-July 2022 and for the World Championships, October-December 2022.
The European, Americas and African Championships have already been held in Turkey, Brazil and Ghana, respectively.