Regional Games discussions opens the 2020 Annual Conference

Initially planned to take place in Abu Dhabi, this year's Annual Conference will now take place virtually using videoconferencing programme BlueJeans, due to COVID-19 and international travel restrictions.

Thursday saw the first virtual meeting held with international delegates participating in the Regional Games Sub-committee from 10:00-13:00 UTC.

This committee oversees sailing within Regional Games all over the world, looking into how to ensure the sport can be incorporated into these Games and that it is managed and organised effectively.

Chaired by Ricardo Navarro, an experienced International Technical Delegate and International Race Official, Committee members engaged in a series of presentations and discussions with observers and World Sailing staff in attendance.

Several updates from Regional Games around the world were presented. The Junior Pan Am Games in Cali, Colombia, will now take place in September 2021, rather than June, so as not to clash with the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The Kite Relay event has been dropped due to a requested reduction of athletes by the Organising Committee of the Games. The event will now feature four one-person events - Laser Standard Male, Laser Radial Female, and iQFoil Male and Female

The 2023 Pan Am Games are on track, and events will be finalised once the Paris 2024 Olympic programme is confirmed by the IOC. Elsewhere, the Central America and Caribbean Games, scheduled for 2022, have been cancelled by host city Panama City, and a replacement location is being sought.

Additionally, Panam Sports is looking into how it can help fill the void for young athletes of the Americas after the four-year postponement of the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal. Discussions are at an early stage and no plans or dates have been confirmed as of yet.

The committee also discussed event and equipment options for future Regional Games and stressed that World Sailing should work in close collaboration with Regional Games Organising Committees and future bidders. The Committee also highlighted the importance of ensuring Sailing remains on the programme of Regional Games, and where there is no Sailing, World Sailing should work to ensure it is included in the future.

The following four submissions were presented:
008-20: recommending a minimum floor of funding of Development and Training in World Sailing at the 25% of total budget for World Sailing
016-20: recommending that a minimum of 20% of Development and Training Budget be allocated to Para Sailing Program of World Sailing. And that Funding be dedicated to support winning the re-inclusion of Para Sailing in the 2028 Paralympics.

028-20: Adding iQFoil to Regulation 25 so that it is a part of the approved equipment list for Regional Games
029-20: Adding Formula Kite to Regulation 25 so that it is part of the approved equipment list for Regional Games
All four were supported by the Regional Games Sub-committee.

The meeting was recorded in BlueJeans and is now available on World Sailing's YouTube channel. You can watch it back below: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja4zC5iktWE&feature=youtu.be