The 2024 European Water Polo Championships are in question after attacks have led to a war outbreak in Israel.
The competition is scheduled for January 3-16, 2024 in Netanya, a city in the Northern Central District of Israel that has hosted many aquatics events in recent years, including the World Junior Swimming Championships in September.
On Saturday, the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, leading the nation to declare war on Hamas.
In the days since the outbreak, European Aquatics has reportedly been holding meetings to discuss a change of course for the event early next year.
“A decision has to be made imminently to have room for maneuver,” a source from European Aquatics said, according to the EFE Agency (via translation).
The source acknowledged that the event not only serves as a qualifier for the Paris Olympic Games, but also for the 2024 World Aquatics Championships which are scheduled to run just one month later in Doha.
In terms of Olympic qualification, France, Hungary and Greece are the European nations that have qualified for the men’s water polo tournament in Paris, while France, the Netherlands and Spain are the three that have qualified for the women. The top-finishing nation at the European Championships outside of those countries will also earn a berth to Paris, and an additional two men’s spots and four women’s spots will be up for grabs at the World Championships in Doha.
“There is a lot of concern about the situation. Are alternatives being considered? They must be offered in all areas, in the technical, in the sporting and in the organizational,” they added.
European Aquatics is reportedly set to hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation, and the World Aquatics Executive Committee is slated to meet on Oct. 17.
The large-scale attack has left more than 1,200 people dead in Israel, according to public broadcaster Kan. A retaliatory Israeli airstrike killed at least 900 people in Gaza.
James and Braden,
There was no “retaliatory Israeli airstrike.” Israel isn’t retaliating, against who? The Palestinians who live in Gaza? No. the Israeli military is attacking Hamas bases of operations, Hamas personal and Hamas assets. Hamas builds there entire infrastructure within the population and uses the people of Gaza as their own personal human shields. Israel is attacking the terrorists that butchered over 1,000 civilians not committed “a large scale attack.”
As to the topic of aquatic sports it is appropriate to talk about these events scheduled to take place in Israel, thank you for reporting on this. However please be responsible, stop using the feed from CNN to help you write these posts. The 900 people reportedly killed in… Read more »
James,
Bin Laden the Militant. Bin Laden the freedom fighter.
The “Terrorist group Hamas.”
Hamas openly calls for genocide of Jews and Christians, they are not “freedom fighters”
militant my a**!! call them by their name
#HamasisISIS
terrorist group*
presumably Hamas has some semblance of having Palestine’s interests at heart which would make attacking a large international sporting event like this completely irrational, but maybe better safe than sorry
Crazy that the US Junior World team was in Israel just 5 weeks ago.
This might be a dumb question, but why are the European champs being held in Israel?
Israel competes as part of the European federation in aquatic sports.
Why does it compete in European federation?
Because historically, Muslin states (which are numerous in Asian sporting federations) have refused to compete against Israelis, so logistically it just made more sense.
Look up the 1958 World Cup qualifying. They won the Asia and Africa qualifying without playing as ingle match, and then FIFA had to put on an ad-hoc playoff against Wales to make it look legit.
They hosted the 1964 AFC Asian Cup, and won, which is their only international soccer trophy…because 11 of the 16 participating countries withdrew.
How can Iran play Iraq. North Korea can play South Korea etc etc but we say it’s ok that anyone can refuse to compete vs Israel in world cup, basketball tennis or the olympics…