The Chinese Taipei Skating Union (CTSU) is skating on thin ice as the government and the public demand answers about who knew what and when about a shift in the venue for this year’s inaugural Asian Open Figure Skating Classic from Taipei to China.
The skating world should also be asking tough questions about the confusion, as cracks appear in various stories faster than water can freeze.
Many people in Taiwan were shocked when the CTSU on Tuesday announced that the International Skating Union (ISU) had informed it that the plan to hold the competition in Taipei in October had been changed, and that the competition would instead be hosted by the Hong Kong Skating Union (HKSU) in Dongguan, China.
It said it had immediately contacted the ISU to ask why and that it was preparing to appeal the decision.
However, on Wednesday CTSU officials said that it suggested to the ISU in May that the venue could be changed, but did not say it was forfeiting its right to host the competition.
CTSU secretary-general Eddy Wu (吳奕德) told a news conference that the CTSU and the HKSU had applied in February to host the Classic and on March 27 Taipei had been listed as one of the venues for this year’s Challenger Series.
The ISU established its Challenger Series, a group of senior-level events, in the 2014-2015 season to give more skaters a chance to compete at the international senior level and earn world standing points. The events are required to include at least three disciplines and to take place annually between Aug. 1 and Dec. 15.
While the ISU on May 20 said that Taipei would be hosting the new event, Wu blamed “invisible international pressure” for causing the ISU to change its mind, saying that some “friendly” ISU members had told the CTSU that others had been conspiring to boycott the Taipei event, which could lead to the number of participating nations falling below what would be needed for skaters to qualify for world standing points.
He said the CTSU had told the ISU that it hoped the world body would continue to back Taipei’s hosting of the event, but that “maybe changing the venue could be a possible option.”
Meanwhile, the HKSU on May 29 announced that it would be hosting this year’s Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy competition — an event usually held in early August that Taiwan hosted in 2007, 2012 and 2014 — in Dongguan from Aug. 5 to 9 with men’s, ladies’, pairs and ice dance events.
However, on June 21, the HKSU announced that “due to recent social issues happening in Hong Kong” the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy event had to be postponed and rescheduled — a notice that the CTSU also posted on its Web site.
Dongguan is about 90km from Hong Kong and presumably a large number of the competitors would have been flying into Hong Kong and then heading into mainland China.
The CTSU said four days later that the ISU asked it to hand the rights to the Classic to the HKSU, but while Wu said the CTSU told the ISU it agreed to the arrangement, it also said it would wait “for a final decision from the ISU council.”
On Monday, the ISU announced that the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy competition would be held in Dongguan from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3 and would replace the Asian Open Figure Skating Classic.
So it is beginning to look like Taipei losing the new Classic event was not so much “international pressure” — of course interpreted to mean pressure from Beijing — as much as an attempt by the ISU to help the HKSU and skaters and teams that had already made plans to go to Dongguan early next month.
Who knows? There are many questions for which Taiwanese, as well as skaters from Asia and elsewhere, have yet to receive satisfactory answers.
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