Sweden will not participate in the World Championships in Kuwait, Swedish Bowling Association announced yesterday.
The decision was made due to insufficient and uncertain information about the championship format provided by the IBF and little faith in the IBF arrangement abilities, as it had major flaws both before and during the previous World Championships.
In 2021, Sweden's National Team had one of their most successful World Championships, taking seven medals, including two golds in Dubai.
This year, the board of the Swedish Bowling Association had to make a tough, though principal decision, despite great success in previous years.
'It was a very difficult decision to make and it is of course heavy that Sweden will not be represented at the World Championships. Especially after Sweden's success in recent years. Long discussions and consideration of various options preceded the decision, but the board ultimately came to the conclusion that participation in the World Championships cannot be justified under the current circumstances, said Jan Wiede, chairman of the board of the Swedish Bowling Association.
Members of Sweden's National Team expressed their support and respect for the decision.
Issues at the IBF started, when IBF's bank accounts in Switzerland, as well as the office in Lausanne, were closed by at that moment the President of IBF Sheikh Talal, with IBF's bank accounts being moved to Kuwait. Sheikh Talal had left his position on May 24th, 2022, after a letter about possible money laundering had been sent by one of the presidents of European Bowling Federation (EBF), but resumed his position, by making an announcement on October 4th, 2022, that he was resuming his duties and accused Martin Faba (IBF 1st VP acting as Interim President) to the conspiracy to create a new rival entity.
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