Sad News from Sofia
2006-06-19
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A few minutes ago Racketlon.com was reached by the sad news that the tournament director of the Bulgarian Open (Onik Kassabian) has decided to cancel the event, due to massive last minute cancellations!

The third straight Bulgarian Open was scheduled to take place this weekend (21-23 July). Participants at the two previous events in 2004 and 2005 have reported about great hospitality and interesting experiences at this event, "the most eastern" and also "probably the most interesting" on the tour.

But this year's event has seemingly been haunted by bad luck. First (back in May, only three months before tournament date) the event had to be postponed by one week due to a sport centre availability issue. A few weeks later the original tournament director (and the director of both previous events) Puzant Kassabian, was reported seriously ill. Luckily, he now seems to be happily recovering but he was forced to hand over the responsibility of the organisation on very short notice and preparations suffered.

Please, find below a message from the organisers (original tournament director Puzant Kassabian and his nephew Onik Kassabian, who replaced him recently).

/H

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Dear Racketlon community, dear friends, dear racketlon fans,

We hereby would with regret would have to inform you that the scheduled for being held from 21st till 23rd July 2006 Bulgarian Open Racketlon Championships 2006 will have to be cancelled.

Unfortunately, due reasons that as a matter of fact were out of our hands, the entire organization for the event began a bit late and probably this derived to not so many foreign players register of participation. At the same time we managed to attract some Bulgarian players to participate, but the fact that we did not have many foreign players made them withdraw in the last minute and left us with only few players that by our opinion are insufficient number for holding an international event.

We do regret the disappointment that our decision may have or will cause to all of you, but we can promise you that for next year the organization will start much earlier no matter what and will comply fully with the respective IRF regulations and by- laws. We even have managed to secure a sponsor, who committed to finance the event and to provide EUR 3.000 prize money fund that will be distributed among the finalists.

Once again, please excuse us for the caused inconvenience and hopefully after forgiving us you will find yourselves willing to come to next year’s Bulgarian Open Racketlon Championships 2007 and share some unforgettable moments together as we always have before!

Thank you for the understanding!


Regards’

Organizers
Bulgarian Open Racketlon Championships 2006

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