Cover photo: ISA/Evans

In its latest statement regarding the holding of the ISA World Surfing Games on the waves of El Sunzal and La Bocana in El Salvador, the ISA wrote: “The ISA has decided, in agreement with the government of El Salvador, to postpone the Surf City El Salvador ISA World Surfing Games (WSG) until further notice, possibly in the latter half of 2020.

This is the last event on the world championship calendar for which a clear decision has not yet been made on what will happen, but it is easy to deduce that the event will not take place in 2020.

There are several factors to consider for the aforementioned deduction:

-El Salvador is in the worst moment of the pandemic: Due to the escalation of cases, three days ago it postponed entry into the second phase of economic reactivation, which contemplated the reactivation of public transport, call centers, restaurants and industries such as footwear, paper, plastic and creative industries.

In June, the first step was taken towards reactivation for productive sectors such as construction, textile manufacturing, among others, and part of the public sector, from which point cases skyrocketed by more than 200%, international news agencies reported.

-The world is still far from having the pandemic under control and the signals from the vast majority of international sports federations have been cancellation or postponement of events.

It is true that regional tournaments have been announced, that in sectors such as Europe there is air mobility, but this leads to the third point:

-This year's ISA World Cup is one of the most cosmopolitan in history. The previous record was 55 countries, and as it is the largest Olympic qualifier, the number was expected to be higher. The signals given by airlines, border blockades and recommendations from the World Health Organization make it seem very clear that there will not be a World Cup even in December.

It should be noted, in this regard, that the international federation would not want the World Cup that qualifies for the Games to not comply with one of the basic Olympic principles: Universality.

-Finally, although there are waves in December in El Salvador, in the eyes of the world, the ISA will want the championship to be held with the consistent south swells that occur from April onwards.

Next week there will be a meeting between authorities from El Salvador and the International Surfing Association to discuss this issue, official sources from that country told DUKE and all signs point to the new postponement being until 2021.