COVID-19: MORE CANCELLATIONS, SHUT-DOWNS

* International Bowling Campus Youth Development has cancelled its national youth championships events, including the Junior Gold Championships Presented by Hammer, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The cancellation of events includes the USA Bowling National Championships, the Bowling.com Youth Open Championships, and the Survivor tournament. More than 4,000 youth bowlers already had qualified for the events, which had been scheduled to take place at seven bowling centers in Las Vegas from July 8-26. “All of us at IBC Youth understand and share in the disappointment, as July is our time to celebrate youth bowling with the athletes, families, coaches and volunteers,” said Gary Brown, IBC Youth Managing Director. “But this summer is the time to ensure the focus is on the safety and welfare of our bowling families.” Full report: https://www.bowlersjournal.com/covid-19-forces-cancellation-of-2020-junior-gold-championships/

* The scheduled start of the 2020 USBC Open Championships and 2020 USBC Women’s Championships will move to September and include a modified format to allow for increased social distancing for competitors. The move to September is intended to give tournament bowlers more time to focus on their personal situations during this difficult period. In surveys, registered competitors said they still would like to participate in the tournament late in the year, if public health conditions allow. Moving the tournaments to September gives everyone a chance to consider their options and plan for their own circumstances. The Open Championships at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev., is now scheduled to start on Sept. 12 and run until Nov. 21 (last team date), while the Women’s Championships at the South Point Bowling Plaza in Las Vegas is set to kick off Sept. 19 and run through Oct. 18. More: https://www.bowlersjournal.com/2020-usbc-open-and-womens-championships-start-dates-moved-to-september/

* The 79th annual National Championship Tournament of The National Bowling Association has been cancelled. The tournament originally was to be held May 21-31 in Las Vegas, then was rescheduled to dates in August. Further information and links to TNBA President Dewann Clark’s Facebook Live reports can be found at: http://tnbainc.org.

* The USBC has suspended the Team USA and Junior Team USA programs for the remainder of 2020 because of uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of international competitions to 2021. All 2020 Team USA and Junior Team USA members, if they remain age-eligible, automatically will be placed on their respective 2021 teams. “We know this is disappointing for our Team USA athletes who worked hard to earn the honor of representing our country in competition,” said Team USA Head Coach Rod Ross. “Unfortunately, we do not see any possibility of Team USA competing this calendar year. We look forward to 2021, with a stronger expanded team that includes current team members and those who make the squad at the 2021 Team USA Trials.” More: https://www.bowlersjournal.com/team-usa-programs-suspended-due-to-covid-19/.

* The factory of Switch Bowling in Turkey has been closed temporarily because of the pandemic. Chief communications officer Cynthia Winterhalter said that the company was falling into line with the stricter measures that were being brought in internationally. The company’s factory in Izmir will be closed until Monday, May 4, Winterhalter confirmed. “Through unity and solidarity, it is our strong belief that we will overcome these hardest days and come out the other side even stronger than before,” she said.

* Cara Honeychurch, CEO of Tenpin Bowling Australia Limited, told Bill Vint of Sleeping Dogs Communications that TBA’s office was closed for two weeks, but there are hopeful signs in Australia: “We’ve jumped on it pretty hard and have seen the number of [COVID-19] cases being reported on a daily basis now down under 100 per day. So we’ve flattened the curve reasonably quickly, but it will be interesting to see how long it will be before restrictions start to get lifted and what impact that then has on spreading the virus again. I think it’s the view of most Australians to just stay in lockdown a bit longer than what otherwise might seem necessary so that we only have to go through this once.  I don’t think the economy would survive a second shutdown.”