DanceSport | University Sport
The status of “recognised sport” is new and the direct outcome of a process which had FISU review its overall strategies as well as the sports programmes for the different events held under its auspices.
The decision was communicated to World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) President Lukas Hinder in a personal letter by FISU President Oleg Matysin. A Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between WDSF and FISU in the near future to outline the parameters for the future collaboration as well as the many development opportunities that will arise from it.
WDSF had sought FISU’s embrace of DanceSport for quite some time, compiling, with the help of its National Member Bodies (NMB), a comprehensive dossier on the practice of all dance disciplines at the university level. While many top athletes are in fact students, and while varsity leagues prosper in number of countries, an international competition structure was never created beyond the university championships held by the continental associations in Asia and Europe.
WDSF President Hinder thanked his counterpart at FISU, President Matysin, for granting recognition to DanceSport. “We gladly take on the challenge of working our way up from being one of the new recognised sports to one that will eventually feature in World University Championships and – in due time – in the Universiade.” Hinder said. “This recognition should provide our global community with the momentum needed to strengthen the competition structures at this specific level – for the benefit of many university students who are top-level dancers too.”
Hinder also thanked each NMB which has contributed with its own experience in conducting collegiate leagues and championships to make DanceSport’s cause so compelling. “It couldn’t have been done without you,” he summarised the experience.
Read the full press release!
WDSF_PR_1704_20170523
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