EN: Another Covid-19 Victim In Sport: LAPP Cup 2020 Cancelled

The Coronavirus epidemy wins over sport everywhere, the czech sledge hockey leagues included. The next victim has fallen recently. the prestigious LAPP Cup international sledge hockey tournament in Zlín, Czech Republic. This tournament, that usually takes place every first week in September, is not going to happen in 2020.

One or two teams outside Europe leagues were likely to join the home team and their usual team opponents from Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Russia and from recently heavily challenged Italy in this annual 10th year of the LAPP cup tournament.

"It is not an easy decision but the circumstances forced us to do it that way. Nobody knows what comes next, individual teams have no idea whether they would be able to arrive at all, we do not know whether our borders will be open at that time. There was no other option. Better to cancel the entire event now than to wait and cancel it in the moment when everything has started and a lot of money was already involved," says Petr Julina, the LAPP Cup's CEO. The cancellation feels a loss the more that the tournament was likely to acquire more reputation this year again.

"We believed that the teams outside Europe would increase the tournament's attractivity," he added. 

LAPP Cup takes place in Zlín every September since 2011, it is becoming more and more prestigious every year and is always followed by an increased number of fans. The appropriate hockey stadium's full capacity of 600 viewers has been sold out twice during the last year's tournament. Also, 22 players from the 2019's World Para Hockey Championship took place in the last year's LAPP Cup tournament.

The game in 2017 between the teams Zlin and Malmö was broadcast live in the countrywide TV station for the first time in czech clubs history.