WC in Bahrain?

[Michael]

Anyone heard anything on whether UWW would be considering moving this year's worlds from Bahrain? US State Department has a pretty serious-sounding advisory against traveling to Bahrain at the moment because of Iranian strikes on civilian infrastructure around the gulf. Wondering if it'll impact Iranian fans' ability to get visas, too.

[LJB]

it was announced several weeks ago that Senior Worlds will not be in Bahrain...

last weekend the word around the campground was Kyrgyzstan was the destination but nothing official and more importantly no dates yet...

Bahrain was a super quick turnaround after U23 Worlds in Vegas, so, everyone is anxiously awaiting that date...

[AgaveMaria]

Makes sense to move them. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia formula 1 Grand Prix races were both cancelled this year due to the US/Israel attacks starting a War with Iran - which resulted in the possible missile attacks to the Racing venues.

Playing it safe where the possibility of missile/air attacks is real is the only way to go.

[juniorvarsity]

Separate but related - there were rumors about Iran's participation in the World Cup being in jeopardy, but that's all resolved and had nothing to do with the US government  So with Iran participating in the World Cup across North America, I would think that they could participate in 2027 Worlds - assuming the Iranian government does not make them stay home. So that seems encouraging, although the UWW Worlds and the  World Cup are not apples to apples.