VALENCIA LOSES OUT ON AMERICA'S CUP RACE TO UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

News

Sally Bengtsson / 2009-08-07 10:07:35

Valencia are very disappointed to find out that the United Arab Emirates has been named host country of the 2010 America’s Cup race by Swiss defender of the title, Alinghi.

Valencia, had hoped to be awarded the event after hosting the last edition in 2007, and having spent huge amounts of money on making the venue perfect. Valencia’s tourism councilor Angélica Such said yesterday that the choice of venue for the 33rd edition of the regatta “was not good news” for the city, although she added that Valencia
would keep working on its bid for the 34th outing of the race.

Alinghi and challenger BMWOracle have been locked in a legal dispute for the last two years over the conditions of the next edition of sailing’s most prestigious event. Oracle, which disliked the Valencia venue, successfully sued this spring to have the event held in February 2010, and not in May of that year, as Alinghi preferred. The date essentially disqualified Valencia as a candidate. Alinghi representatives contacted Valencia Mayor Rita Barberá to explain that Valencia’s winter weather was “not suitable” for the event, according to deputy mayor Alfonso Grau.

Upon hearing the decision, the Socialist Party’s regional delegation criticized the PP run Valencian government’s bidding strategy. The delegation issued a statement saying that the outcome “captures the clamorous failure of a strategy of trying to win the America’s Cup in Valencia in exchange for institutional support for one of the competitors.”

The government accuses Valencia of pacting with the Swiss to have the Alinghi-friendly Spanish team Desafío Español named the challenger of record and for Valencia to be named host.

Tags: Americas Cup, Sailing