The Dutch player Dave Christiani will replace Tayfun Tasdemir in the third round of the Kozoom 3C Challenge Cup next week. The four Turkish players (Tasdemir, Coklu, Sayginer and Cenet) and Therese Klompenhouwer, the world and European ladies champion, have cancelled participation due to the prospect of quarantine. The visa application for two Korean top tournaments and the risk of being infected with COVID-19 could jeopardise the Turks' participation in the Korean events.
The third session in the Kozoom Challenge Cup from Wednesday 5 to Friday 7 May in the Kozoom arena in Andernos had a line-up with Eddy Merckx, Tayfun Tasdemir and Maxime Panaia. Tasdemir has dropped out, Dave Christiani has agreed to take part.
Kozoom-organiser Xavier Carrer will announce the schedule for the final groups as soon as possible. ''We are sorry to miss the Turkish players and Therese, but we have no choice and must rebuild the groups play with new compositions for the schedule. Hopefully many European players will remain for an exciting and high quality competition.''
Dave Christiani received the invitation on the day of his elimination at the Masters despite a strong last performance with 2.727 on average. The invitation for the international Kozoom tournament was a kind of band-aid.
Therese Klompenhouwer, who was in the group of 11-13 May with Semih Sayginer and Jérémy Bury, had to cancel, because she has to be back in Holland in time to get her visa for the Korean tournaments. ''I am afraid my visa application, which takes three weeks at the embassy, will be too late after five days of quarantine, because I leave for Korea on June 14.''
Therese certainly intended to stick to the home quarantine. ''I had Corona myself and have unknowingly infected my father, who has been very ill for more than two weeks now. I know how important it is to comply with the rules.''