Great organizational success was noted by the meeting of the federations that make up its group D World Sailing, which was hosted last weekend in the EIO event hall.
Of the 10 countries, 7 (Greece, Israel, Turkey, Malta, France, Italy and Lebanon) attended and a common denominator was the role played by the Hellenic Sailing Federation in the operation of Group D, as the EIO was the one in 2017.
It was even agreed that this meeting to be promoted and highlighted in as many countries as possible, so that all group realizes how important communication is between them so as to gain strength and their decisions to have an influential role in World Sailing.
The Group d He decided to support Corin Magrene from France for the Vice -President of the World Federation, as to send a letter to World Sailing for changes in its statutes. This happened after the forced resignation of the vice president from Turkey because she could not be president of her country’s federation at the same time.
There is also a disagreement over the decision of the World Federation its members who have not paid the subscription for two years that they cannot vote in the General Assemblies. Such as that it is unbearable for a federation to attend the assemblies that the various committees make important decisions and concern everyone.
Financial and frequent changes in class were a big issue of discussion in the two -day meeting of Group D. Meeting countries and not for the first time, as new classes are costly for athletes, groups and federations.
The boats are expensive and so is the support with similar inflatables that should be fast and the fuel costs. Only on paper sailing is now considered green because the environmental footprint is not proportional.
All of this is mainly true for iqfoil, 49ers, Kite Formula and Nacra 17 that develop high speeds and the numbers show that racing participation is reduced.
It is now obvious that World Sailing wants faster races, but the requirements are huge and most countries find it difficult or unable to respond.
Then, sailing is not only the Olympic categories, but also the internationals who feel marginalized and this is a big mistake because thousands of athletes around the world are involved.
In general, there is also discontent about how the World Federation operates and manipulations on many racing issues and not only, and even opinions have been expressed even on cases of opacity affecting the prestige of World Sailing.
Group D’s unanimous decision is to raise all these reflections on World Sailing so that sailing can regain its identity.
It is worth noting that the Meeting was greeted by the president of the World Federation, Chinese Juan Lee, while giving the present and the present EEA President Isidoros Kouvelos who stressed among other things:
“It is a great pleasure and honor to welcome the President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, this important two -day meeting of the members of the World Sailing Group D. As I was informed, this group is one of the most powerful groups of the World Sailing Federation, whose members work with a high sense of responsibility, understanding and dedication, to promote their common interests in the field of exciting sport. Our country, dear delegates, has a long tradition of dealing with the sea. From navigation to fishing and from its tourist exploitation to the most successful sport. And in the latter our country has enormous success.
The Hellenic Sailing Federation is one of the most important sports players for our country, since our sailors have so far won most medals for Greece among other athletes, from their participation in international, world and Olympic Games. The presence in the work of this meeting of two prominent world sailing figures, the honorable gentlemen Josep Pla, Vice President of World Sailing and Balazs Hajdy, a distinguished lawyer, chairman of the World Sailing Committee and Vice President of the Eurosaf Group D’s strong voice in international sailing events. It is also my pleasure to see among you and friend Emilio Papathanasiou, a member of the World Sailing Council elected by Group D and the only Greek holder of the IOC Fair Play Award. His presence in the World Federation is not only an international recognition for himself and for the Hellenic Sailing Federation, but also for Greece itself. “
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