The Malaysia Dancesport Federation (MYDF) would sincerely like to extend their heart felt condolences to the people of Japan. We were informed by our counterpart in Japan that never in the last 100 years Japan has faced such a strong earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter Scale.
The Earthquake coupled with the following Tsunami was indeed a terrible double tragedy.
The Tokyo Grand Slam that was to be held today 13th March 2011 (Sunday) at the Tokyo Metropolitant Gymnasium is now cancelled. Below is a report extracted from the WDF website on the status of the situation of the Grand Slam participants in Tokyo. 
Japan Earthquake 11/03/2011
IDSF Communications was finally able to get a hold of the organisers of the Tokyo Grand Slam that is scheduled for Sunday, 13 March. Chieko Abe - on behalf of the Japan DanceSport Federation (JDSF) - communicated with Heidi Goetz by e-mail.
Vice-President Hinder confirms that the entire Grand Slam (GS) contingent at the Tokyo Hyatt was temporarily evacuated from the rooms and brought to open space. Hinder is also aware of a number of GS participants who are currently at different airports around Japan. Most of them wil fly back to their countries from there.
The IDSF Adjudicators' Congress, which is scheduled for tomorrow, will be held at a location still to be determined, after the Metropolitan Gymnasium needs to be surveyed for safety before it can be reopened.
Please be advised that the Grand Slam leg here in Tokyo has been cancelled due to earthquake. The Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium considers it unsafe to run the competition on Sunday and decided to cancel it. We, JDSF, have to accept the decision. Sorry for what has happened, and kindly understand the situation.After countless tries, we have also been able to speak by phone with Lukas Hinder, the IDSF First Vice-President, who was at the Tokyo Hyatt Regency during the quake. Lukas reports all athletes and officials to be safe and sound, but still digesting the magnitude of what has happened over the past ten hours.
Chieko Abe
Vice-President Hinder confirms that the entire Grand Slam (GS) contingent at the Tokyo Hyatt was temporarily evacuated from the rooms and brought to open space. Hinder is also aware of a number of GS participants who are currently at different airports around Japan. Most of them wil fly back to their countries from there.
The IDSF Adjudicators' Congress, which is scheduled for tomorrow, will be held at a location still to be determined, after the Metropolitan Gymnasium needs to be surveyed for safety before it can be reopened.
"They say it was the strongest earthquake in 100 years. I saw the high-rises sway from the street and cracks in some of the walls as I was allowed back into the hotel. However, as we speak, construction workers are fixing them already."Our thoughts are with the people in Japan and the other parts of the world, where the tsunami could still cause more devastation.
Lukas Hinder
1 comment:
Our hearts are with the Japanese people. God Bless all of you
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