The results of the Tournament Committee ballot are now in and the WSDC
event in Thailand this August will be going ahead. Congratulations to
the organisers in Thailand who have been doing the best job they can
under very dificult circumstances and have won the backing they needed
to proceed.
Nevertheless, the recent online forum has made it very clear that a
number of nations who are valued members of the WSDC community will
not be able to send their teams to the WSDC tournament in Thailand
this August because of genuine concerns about the national security
situation in Thailand or problems getting the appropriate travel
insurance - and in a couple of cases even being told by their nation's
Ministry of Education that they will not be allowed to take a group of
school students to Thailand under the present circumstances despite
the team management's desire to bring their team to WSDC.
If Thailand is the only WSDC event which happens this year, it will -
through no fault of the Thai organising committee - neverthless be a
smaller and dimishined WSDC which will exclude a number of the usual
teams (which will be a huge blow to the students who were due to be
members of those teams).
I therefore, in my capacity as Singapore's delegate to the Tournament
Committee, would like to ask the WSDC community (along with the Exec,
the Directors and the bid team from Canada), whether we still wish to
consider the suggestion which Singapore made shortly before the recent
online forum closed for there to be a "dual event" WSDC this year.
The specifics of the proposal are:
1. The WSDC tournament in Thailand will still go ahead in August
(something which the Tournament Committee has just confirmed), but
there will also be a second official WSDC tournament in August in
Canada. Nations can choose which event they will send their team to -
WSDC Thailand or WSDC Canada (but they may only send a team to one
event, not both). Teams who are unable to go to Thailand due to
security concerns will therefore still be able to send their team that
has been preparing for WSDC to an alternative official WSDC event.
2. In December this year, the champion teams from WSDC Thailand
and WSDC Canada, will then come together somewhere in the world (at a
location and date which is mutually convenient for both the 2 teams)
for a Grand Final debate which will determine the overall WSDC
champions for 2014.
Singapore is making this proposal as a special, one-off suggestion
which we think could be the best way to deal with the extraordinary
circumstances of this year. (It's not something we envisage ever being
repeated.)
Given that WSDC Thailand is going ahead (and may nations would have
been unable to attend WSDC this year if it didn't), but there are also
a signifcant number of nations who won't be able to attend WSDC this
year if Thailand is the only WSDC tournament, we urge the WSDC
community to now seriously consider this extraordinary proposed
solution to deal with the extraordinary circumstances we have in 2014.
Regards,
Mark Gabriel
(Singapore Tournament Committee Delegate)
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