New Zealand team withdrawal from Chengdu 2022 World University Games
Regrettably, University and Tertiary Sport New Zealand (UTSNZ) has had to make the tough decision not to send a New Zealand Team to the Chengdu World University Games. Information from UTSNZ pertaining to the decision made is included below.
Rowing NZ encourages all athletes that had intended to nominate, to communicate with the National Pathway Coaches about alternative teams that they could be considered for such as the U23, U21 or Trans-Tasman University teams (nationalpathway@rowingnz.kiwi). Selection guidelines can be found here.
This letter is to advise that the Board of University and Tertiary Sport NZ (UTSNZ) has made the difficult decision not to send a New Zealand team to the Chengdu 2022 World University Games. The Games scheduled to take place 26 Jun - 7 Jul 2022, was originally set for 2021 but postponed by FISU due to the global COVID-19 situation and international travel restrictions.
It was also hoped that postponement would allow time to navigate the complexities that come with delivery of a global multi-sport event of this nature during a pandemic, and that improvements in the public health situation would be such that an event in 2022 would be considerably more likely to offer the formative experience that FISU aims to deliver. Unfortunately, timing of the event, the on-going uncertainty around COVID-19 event protocols and international travel requirements make planning extremely difficult and the decision to withdraw comes after consideration of the risks and additional requirements associated with the co-ordination of team entry in the midst of a pandemic.
In addition, whilst other high-performance campaigns have gone ahead relatively successfully, it is important to note that this has been with the help of government and sport sector funding. In the absence of investment support from Sport NZ or High Performance Sport NZ, UTSNZ is not in a position to meet the additional campaign management, staffing, administration costs and travel costs presented by the pandemic. Participation also currently runs counter to current government public health and HPSNZ advice for international travel.