Just a few hours ago a mail from the RoboCup federation dropped in, stating that the RoboCup World Championships in Suzhou, China, will be cancelled:
Due to the Olympic related issues, the Government in Suzhou, China
will not be able to hold RoboCup 2008 IN JULY. [...]
Is this a fake or not? We are not sure yet. If the announcement is authentic, however, it is a very unexpected step.
Edit 2008/05/06, 13:10: It’s confirmed. There is some unspecified activity going on within the RoboCup organisation regarding RoboCup 2008 in Suzhou, China, but we do not have any further information on this topic: http://www.robocup.org/02.html. In an email from Minoru Asada this morning we were informed that:
[...] the trustees are now working
hard to ascertain the situation and will let you know the final status
as soon as possible. We will do our best to make sure that there will
still be a RoboCup 2008 and will keep you posted as further
information is available. For now, please don’t make any new plans,
but please also don’t cancel plans. The decision will be made this
weekend. [...]
May 5th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
[...] Original post here [...]
May 6th, 2008 at 7:02 am
RoboCup 2008 in China abgesagt…
Vor einigen Stunden machte eine Email von Minoru Asada, dem Präsidenten der RoboCup Federation, die Runde in der mitgeteilt wurde, dass die Weltmeisterschaften dieses Jahr nicht in China stattfinden können. Über die wahren Gründe der Absage kann zu…
May 7th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Must be real – Urgent Announcement (2008.5.6)
Changes may need to occur with respect to RoboCup 2008. Please stay tuned for more news. For participants, please check the worldwide robocup email list for further information. Until further announcement, please do NOT book any flights or make any payments right now.
– Minoru Asada, the president of the RoboCup Federation
http://robocup.org/02.html
May 7th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Yes, we’ve noticed this announcement, too. Let’s see if the world championships will take place this year. If they do but not in China, maybe somewhere near to us? Would be great since we cannot afford participation in China… :)