(ATR) The StandUp Paddle World Championship of the International Canoe Federation will be held in April.
The president of the ICF, José Perurena, said in exclusive comments to Around the Rings that two European cities are the candidates to organize the tournament.
He declined to identify the bidding cities, but said "One of the two will be chosen by the Congress of the ICF next November".
The SUP World Championship was to have been held as part of the just completed Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Portugal but that plan was torpedoed by a Portuguese court ruling that prohibited the use of public funds to organize the SUP event.
The decision of the Portuguese Court of Arbitration for Sport was well received by the International Surfing Association, which is currently awaiting the results of a decision from the International Court of Arbitration for Sport based in Lausanne. ISA claims exclusive governance of StandUp Paddle.
Perurena told ATR in June that the SUP event would be held this year, but it has now been postponed until April of next year.
"We had the host (Naples, Italy), but the schedule is very tight, and we want to make a high-level World Cup," he explains.
The statements of Perurena, IOC member from Spain and president of the International Association of the World Games, took place shortly after the last finals of the World Sprint Canoe Championship this Sunday in Portugal, where many of the favorites for the Olympic Games in Tokyo won gold medals.
The local idol, Fernando Pimienta, whose image adorned the main poster for the World Championship, did not disappoint and won gold medals in K1 1000 and K1 5000 in the span of 24 hours.
The women’s canoe competition, which will make its debut in the Olympic tournament in Tokyo, "has exceeded expectations," Perurena says, adding "in three years it almost reaches the same level as men".
Women’s canoe has traditionally been dominated by New Zealand but Perurena says "competitors of different countries are now rising to the podium".
He believes that what happened in Portugal signals a "magnificent" World Cup in Szeged, Hungary, in 2019.
In the Hungarian World Cup, 70 percent of the Tokyo 2020 qualifying places will be awarded to those who finish in the first six places of each race.
The remaining 30 percent of qualifiers will be determined between September 2019 and May 2020 in the continental championships.
The Paracanoe World Championships were held at the same time last week in Portugal.
According to Perurena the Paracanoe tournament "had an incredible level" and the organization in general has been a "10".
Written by Miguel Hernandez
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