Athletes First! 16/10/2016

The members of WDSF Managing Committee have worked all Saturday and narrowed the scenarios for the hosting of the fifth regular leg of the GrandSlam Series 2016 down to two, after Mrs Irina Petrova had scrubbed it, by email letter to WDSF President Hinder, from the line-up of events at the Russian Open Championships (ROC) in Moscow.

On Saturday 14 October 2016, WDSF President Lukas Hinder received another letter, this one written by Denis Kuznetsov. In it, Mr Kuznitsov reports in detail on the outcome of elections that were held on 12 October 2016 during an Extraordinary General Meeting of RDSU in Moscow. According to Mr Kuznetsov, 67 RDSU Members representing 61 regional federations, who between them provided the quorum required by the RDSU Statutes, attended the General Meeting. Mr Sergey Volkov chaired this meeting and Vladimir Berezkhov sat in as an observer on behalf of the Russian Ministry of Sports. Always according to this second letter on RDSU stationery, the meeting elected Mr Kuznetsov as the new RDSU President with a total of 84 votes over the second candidate, Mr Valeriy Gulay, with a total of 25 votes. The meeting also elected eight out of the 10 members of the RDSU Presidium, a General Secretary and the members of an Audit Commission.

In view of all this, the WDSF Managing Committee immediately encouraged Mr Kuznetsov and the other newly elected members of the RDSU Presidium to attempt to host the 2016 GrandSlam Moscow as per the original schedule - and despite the announcement made by Mrs Irina Petrova in her letter and email of 14 October.

If the organisation and the delivery of the event cannot be guaranteed for whatever reason by a Monday 17 October deadline imposed on Mr Kuznetsov and his colleagues, the fifth leg of the GrandSlam Series 2016 will take place in Platja d’Aro, ESP. There, Standard would be held on Saturday 29 October, Latin on Sunday 30 October.

Mrs Petrova was explicit on the cancellation of the GrandSlam events held concurrently with the ROC, but she did not specify the nature of the other events that - yes - will be danced during the upcoming ROC. Nine WDSF sanctioned Opens in different age groups and disciplines are scheduled between 26 and 30 October.

The Managing Committee decides to maintain this sanction and WDSF will award World Ranking points to the participating couples, provided the rules and regulations of WDSF are respected in their conduct. This is consistent with the WDSF policy to guarantee the continuity of WDSF brand DanceSport in Russia for the benefit of the athletes, first and foremost!

More on the developments on Monday 17 October!