The three 2020 BIWPA events canceled

Beach Water Polo, Barcelona Cup and Masters Cup will not take place due to coronavirus

It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the cancelation of this year's BIWPA tournaments. Given the growing concerns around COVID-19, the 4th edition of the Beach Water Polo Costa Brava in Palamos, the 5th edition of the Barcelona International Water Polo Cup and the 2nd edition of the Barcelona Masters Cup are postponed until next year.

This is a tough call to make that we have not taken lightly, but right now we need to prioritize the health and safety of all the athletes and participants involved in these events.

There are three overriding concerns that have caused us to make this decision at this time:

Health and safety

The power of sport has inspired a lot of people throughout the past months. However, we have to suppport a safe sport, and there was no way to guarantee the safety of all the athletes involved in three events of this magnitude.

"There were many athletes from different teams and countries and there was no way to ensure sufficient precautionary measures to avoid infection from both the participants and their surroundings (family, friends, risk groups...)," says Cristina Marín, general manager of BIWPA.

Travel restrictions

At BIWPA we always promote multicultural and inclusive events with athletes from all over the world. The inability to travel for most of the international teams made the events no longer viable.

"We were very excited about this second edition of the Masters Cup, as we had already 18 teams from 14 countries confirmed," explains the project manager Joel Esteller. Although all the players were looking forward to it, especially after the cancelation of the European Masters Championships in Budapest, they all understand and support our decision."

Responsibility and solidarity

Our primary concern is always the responsibility we feel towards our participants. And we all agree that now we have to protect the restart of the competition in Spain. These three events just before the start of the new water polo season could have posed a big risk.

The Beach Water Polo was clearly the most risky tournament in this regard, as several players and teams from the men's and women's Honor Division leagues were involved. "Besides the obvious risk of infection for all participants, we feel we have an even greater responsibility over professional athletes. We could not allow a potential outbreak that forced an entire team or player to miss European competition or the start of the league," says sports director Quim Colet.

The entire BIWPA team is confident that sooner rather than later water polo will come back as the sport that we all love. However, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation.

This is also our little tribute to all those people who have been on the frontline saving lives since the very first day of the pandemic.