Annulation of Starting Eligibility for Competitors of the KPWT/IKF

A message from the IKA:

We regret that KPWT and IKF have chosen to divide the international kiteboarding community by going their way separate from IKA and ISAF.

To protect the interests of our national members as well as the thousands of competition kiteboarders they represent, we will have to request ISAF to impose Regulation 19 (Starting Eligibility) on any competitor taking part in any future IKF / KPWT event or in events of their affiliated partners from 2010 on.

This means, that all such competitors loose their starting eligibility for official IKA/ISAF sanctioned events, this includes the PKRA tour as well as the continental european and asian tours, and national championships.
The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) is the only world wide governing body for any kind of sailing sports, including kiteboarding, and as such recognized by the International Olympic Committee. The International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) is the only kiteboarding class inside ISAF.

IKF (a new “association” calling themselves the “world governing body for kiteboarding) and their affiliate, the Kiteboard Pro World Tour, therefore disregard the worldwide respected structures and have to bear the consequences.