China Will Not Host ISU Events in 2018-19 | Page 12 | Golden Skate

China Will Not Host ISU Events in 2018-19

BillNeal

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For the 8 GP event setup, they can have the last two JGP and first two SGP events combined, respectively, like how they do it for the GPF. This way the JGP schedule stays the same and the senior grand prix series will only be pushed back to the beginning of October.
 

CaroLiza_fan

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Bumping this thread up since the replacement was revealed when the GP assignments were announced, and there are no threads announcing it in The Edge (there is a thread in the Competition Forum, but not everybody visits that Forum, particularly in the off-season).

The replacement is NOT going to be in Korea. It is going to be in Finland.

Really surprised that they have opted to have the replacement in Europe rather than Asia. It means there are now 3 GP's in Europe and only 1 in Asia. Like, if my rough count on the Wikipedia page for the 2018-19 season is correct, then there are only 4 events in Asia of any kind during the whole season now. And 3 of them are in Japan (the other is in Thailand).

Sure, for us European fans and the European skaters, it'll be nice to have another GP in Europe as it will mean less travelling. But, one thing I always liked about the Senior GP Series was the way it was balanced between North America, Europe and Asia. It was a nice contrast to the Junior GP Series and the Challenger Series which are always heavily weighted towards Europe.

This is supposed to be a global sport.

There is no doubt that figure skating is very popular in Asia. But, if the lack of events in that part of the world continues to be the case, the interest may wane. Just look at North America.

CaroLiza_fan
 

BillNeal

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^ Reposting from the GP Assignments thread but apparently Korean Skating Union is under hot water:

About Korea passing on the GP, I don't think anyone posted it?

Apparently the fed is being investigated for embezzlement and multiple harassment cases, the president has resigned. Samsung has pulled their funding just yesterday. In essence a massive mess and no wonder it's not there.
https://twitter.com/boyangsupremist/status/1012669484144848896

As well, posters were saying that the Taipei Arena is unavailable at that time. It doesn't really leave many options in Asia for hosting. I'm glad that Finland has stepped in and they always have a great enthusiastic audience at Finlandia Trophy.
 

OS

Sedated by Modonium
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Nice of Finland to save this. Pity about Taipei and Korea, would be nice if this still stays in Asia or even Kazakhstan. Does that mean next year there still could still be Cup of China or has it been changed permanently.
 

CaroLiza_fan

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^ Reposting from the GP Assignments thread but apparently Korean Skating Union is under hot water:

About Korea passing on the GP, I don't think anyone posted it?

Apparently the fed is being investigated for embezzlement and multiple harassment cases, the president has resigned. Samsung has pulled their funding just yesterday. In essence a massive mess and no wonder it's not there.
https://twitter.com/boyangsupremist/status/1012669484144848896

Well, that explains a lot. If there are investigations like that going on, it was wise for the ISU to distance themselves from the KSU (why do I keep trying to write "KSA"?!)

As well, posters were saying that the Taipei Arena is unavailable at that time. It doesn't really leave many options in Asia for hosting. I'm glad that Finland has stepped in and they always have a great enthusiastic audience at Finlandia Trophy.

Suddenly something else makes sense. The Korean Fed have major problems and so are out of favour, and the rink in Taiwan is not available. So, that explains why 4 Continents is in California this season. :agree:

Getting back to the Chinese GP replacement, and...

Not on such short notice Almaty Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan can be an excellent choice.

Kazakhstan would have been my second preference to get the GP after Korea. They have great facilities already in place, and every winter sports event I have seen there has been well run. That is why I am so angry that they didn't get the 2022 Olympics. However, the GP was unlikely to go to Kazakhstan because of 2 reasons:

  • Figure skating isn't a very big sport there.
  • The government isn't seen in a good light by the international community.

This latter point is the whole reason people didn't want the Olympics in Kazakhstan. And if the ISU don't want to associate themselves with an organisation with financial issues, they are definitely not going to want to associate themselves with a government with human rights issues.

Nice of Finland to save this. Pity about Taipei and Korea, would be nice if this still stays in Asia or even Kazakhstan. Does that mean next year there still could still be Cup of China or has it been changed permanently.

This season, there will definitely be no Cup Of China. The Chinese Fed have handed back all their events for this coming season to the ISU because they are refurbishing all their facilities in preparation for the 2022 Olympics.

Yes, it would have been better to stagger the work out so that they could continue to hold events in the meantime (I gave an example of how it could be done in my first post in this thread), but they seem to want to get it over and done with at the start of their Olympic cycle. Which you can kinda understand too.

As for whether the Finnish GP will be permanent, I don't think so. Once the refurbishments are done, there is no reason why China won't be back on the GP roster. And with China hosting the next Olympics, it is important for them to have as many practice runs as possible. After all, we have seen things happen at the Cup Of China a few times in the past which really shouldn't happen at all (for example, think about the lack of procedures after the warm-up collisions in 2012 and 2014). And you can't have that sort of thing happening at an Olympics, in the full glare of the world.

Getting a one-off GP is a nice reward for Finland for doing such a good job with the Finlandia every year, and with the Majors that it has hosted in recent years (Worlds in 2017; Euros in 2009; Synchro Worlds in 2011; Junior Synchro Worlds in 2013). And I suppose this GP could be seen as a final practice run for hosting Synchro Worlds again in April.

But, I still would have preferred to see the replacement event stay in Asia.

CaroLiza_fan
 

Miller

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Well, that explains a lot. If there are investigations like that going on, it was wise for the ISU to distance themselves from the KSU (why do I keep trying to write "KSA"?!)



Suddenly something else makes sense. The Korean Fed have major problems and so are out of favour, and the rink in Taiwan is not available. So, that explains why 4 Continents is in California this season. :agree:

Getting back to the Chinese GP replacement, and...



Kazakhstan would have been my second preference to get the GP after Korea. They have great facilities already in place, and every winter sports event I have seen there has been well run. That is why I am so angry that they didn't get the 2022 Olympics. However, the GP was unlikely to go to Kazakhstan because of 2 reasons:

Figure skating isn't a very big sport there.
The government isn't seen in a good light by the international community.

This latter point is the whole reason people didn't want the Olympics in Kazakhstan. And if the ISU don't want to associate themselves with an organisation with financial issues, they are definitely not going to want to associate themselves with a government with human rights issues.



This season, there will definitely be no Cup Of China. The Chinese Fed have handed back all their events for this coming season to the ISU because they are refurbishing all their facilities in preparation for the 2022 Olympics.

Yes, it would have been better to stagger the work out so that they could continue to hold events in the meantime (I gave an example of how it could be done in my first post in this thread), but they seem to want to get it over and done with at the start of their Olympic cycle. Which you can kinda understand too.

As for whether the Finnish GP will be permanent, I don't think so. Once the refurbishments are done, there is no reason why China won't be back on the GP roster. And with China hosting the next Olympics, it is important for them to have as many practice runs as possible. After all, we have seen things happen at the Cup Of China a few times in the past which really shouldn't happen at all (for example, think about the lack of procedures after the warm-up collisions in 2012 and 2014). And you can't have that sort of thing happening at an Olympics, in the full glare of the world.

Getting a one-off GP is a nice reward for Finland for doing such a good job with the Finlandia every year, and with the Majors that it has hosted in recent years (Worlds in 2017; Euros in 2009; Synchro Worlds in 2011; Junior Synchro Worlds in 2013). And I suppose this GP could be seen as a final practice run for hosting Synchro Worlds again in April.

But, I still would have preferred to see the replacement event stay in Asia.

CaroLiza_fan

Will be interesting to see what happens next year now that the cycle of having a GP in China has been broken. Could Korea hold a GP if they get their act together? Plus of course they've got all their great young talent coming through. Would be a real boost for them.

Could China re-host, once they've sorted their facilities out, and assuming the loss of CoC this season was not some sort of permanent spat.

Will the event in Finland be a real success? If so why not hold there in the future.

Could you even accidentally end up with a 8 GP Series, time adjusted to end up not effectiing the GPF/Russian/Japanese/other nationals? You never know you might up accidentally end with a bigger better GP series whereas at one point it wasn't even clear we would end up with 6 this coming season.
 

NanaPat

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I doubt if the ISU turned Korea down after announcing that they had offered it to Korea. I think they just couldn't handle the logistics in time.

I would think that the Cup of China would go back to China, but if I were with the ISU, I would be annoyed with the Chinese federation for the short notice of the cancellation. There could have been plenty of potential hosts that would have wanted it but couldn't do it on such short notice.

The ISU should be grateful to Finland for taking on the GP and to Canada for taking the JGP.
 

TallyT

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I doubt if the ISU turned Korea down after announcing that they had offered it to Korea. I think they just couldn't handle the logistics in time.

I would think that the Cup of China would go back to China, but if I were with the ISU, I would be annoyed with the Chinese federation for the short notice of the cancellation. There could have been plenty of potential hosts that would have wanted it but couldn't do it on such short notice.

The ISU should be grateful to Finland for taking on the GP and to Canada for taking the JGP.

Yep, I think we can see their gratitude in the fact that Finland got the two OGMs and the sales boost they will bring :)
 

CaroLiza_fan

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Yep, I think we can see their gratitude in the fact that Finland got the two OGMs and the sales boost they will bring :)

What do you mean by "OGMs"?

Because I read it as "Olympic Gold Medals", and Finland didn't win any medals in figure skating in Pyeongchang. In fact, they didn't even win 2 Gold medals in Pyeongchang in total - they only won one Gold (in Cross Country skiing for Iivo Niskanen in the Men's 50km Mass Start Classic).

So, I assume you mean something else. But, I can't even think of anything else that "OGM" could mean. :drama:

The curse of abbreviations...

CaroLiza_fan
 

karne

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What do you mean by "OGMs"?

Because I read it as "Olympic Gold Medals", and Finland didn't win any medals in figure skating in Pyeongchang.

Olympic Gold Medallists. Hanyu and Zagitova will be there.
 

gonewiththewind25

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What do you mean by "OGMs"?

Because I read it as "Olympic Gold Medals", and Finland didn't win any medals in figure skating in Pyeongchang. In fact, they didn't even win 2 Gold medals in Pyeongchang in total - they only won one Gold (in Cross Country skiing for Iivo Niskanen in the Men's 50km Mass Start Classic).

So, I assume you mean something else. But, I can't even think of anything else that "OGM" could mean. :drama:

The curse of abbreviations...

CaroLiza_fan

I think they mean that the Finland GP got both the Olympic Gold Medallists in Hanyu and Zagitova as a thank you and sort of repayment and sales boost.
 

CaroLiza_fan

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Olympic Gold Medallists. Hanyu and Zagitova will be there.

I think they mean that the Finland GP got both the Olympic Gold Medallists in Hanyu and Zagitova as a thank you and sort of repayment and sales boost.

Aha! I see what they mean now! (Although, I've never come across "OGM" being used in that way on here before).

Have to be honest, I didn't pay attention to who was going to which event when I looked at the assignments. All I did was look to see if a few specific names appeared in the tables or not. So, I don't think I would ever have worked it out myself.

Thank you both for the clarification.

:thank:

CaroLiza_fan
 

evasorange

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Jan 22, 2015
Do you think the Korean Fed being a hot mess right now is why Jun Hwan Cha only got one gp assignment? I saw him perform at the Olympics and really enjoyed it and was looking forward to seeing him compete more this season!
 

SamuraiKike

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Do you think the Korean Fed being a hot mess right now is why Jun Hwan Cha only got one gp assignment? I saw him perform at the Olympics and really enjoyed it and was looking forward to seeing him compete more this season!


Jun-Hwan didn't make any end of season top list so he didn't qualify for any event. The only skaters with 2 events that didnt make the lists were Erokhov and Rizzo. The former as a host pick and the later was also a JWC medallist . Only 1 event for CHa was fair enough.
 

SnowWhite

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Jun-Hwan didn't make any end of season top list so he didn't qualify for any event. The only skaters with 2 events that didnt make the lists were Erokhov and Rizzo. The former as a host pick and the later was also a JWC medallist . Only 1 event for CHa was fair enough.

Rizzo was top 24 WS list. The only skaters who weren't top 24 in WS or SB and got two spots were Romain Ponsart and Alexey Erokhov, and both got one of those spots through a host pick. Like you said, it's not surprising Cha only got the on spot. He's SB 25. Last year Nam Nguyen was SB 26 and he only got 1 spot initially, but picked up a 2nd as a replacement. Cha will have a chance for that.
 

Andrea82

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Rizzo was top 24 SB list.

Rizzo was guaranteed of one spot by top 24 World Standing. In SB list he was 36th

Jun-Hwan didn't make any end of season top list so he didn't qualify for any event. The only skaters with 2 events that didnt make the lists were Erokhov and Rizzo. The former as a host pick and the later was also a JWC medallist . Only 1 event for CHa was fair enough.
I think also Ponsart. But again one was a host pick
 

asiacheetah

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LOL... this will certainly end up in huge international crisis for the region. China will demand it to be called Cup of Province of China, or Cup of Chinese Taipei, or Cup of the cute friendly tiny rebel brother who ran away to freedom and play..

The alternative is to call it Cup of Republic of China. Although it will get even more confusing than PCS and GOEs as China will demand it to call Cup of People's Republic of China... by that time I think ISU will be better off host it just in any ole training rink or in any ole shopping mall ... Korea, Hongkong, take a pick.... why not SINGAPORE! They have done a great service for N + S Korea for neutrality, I am sure they can save Cup of China!!! Have it at Marina Sands, and get people to bet on the winner to earn some funds for ISU. (May be it is the one place Julian Yee can get decent marks for once...? Since many can travel from Malaysia to support him.)

Do they have a ice rink at Marina Bay Sands (they don't)?

As a Taiwanese citizen, I would like for speculations about ISU political wargames involving Taiwan to be left out of the discussion please. Since China has staged ACTUAL war games with missiles against Taiwan, it's not a joking matter for use as a joke on a FS board.

And "cup of cute friendly tiny rebel brother who ran away to freedom and play"... What the hell is that? Spoken from a person who has absolutely no idea of Taiwan history and the independence movement.
 

hybfc

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Refurbishing is just an excuse to avoid ruining the relationship with ISU. It would not be a problem at all if CSA wanted to host it. And if it was indeed a problem, it would be arranged way earlier.

CSA felt mishandled by ISU in terms of short track judging and figure skating judges ban. Besides, CSA has cumulated complaints about ISU since Chinese athletes have not been fairly treated many times in the past. The action feels like a strong statement to ISU since official complaints did not work.

I think CSA would like to host COC in future. Otherwise, they would not come up with an excuse which only works this year. But who knows. If ISU keeps being arrogant, it may not come back.
 
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