India forced to withdraw from World Breaking Championships 2021 due to Covid-19
The women's national champion B-Girl BarB alleges that they were informed about the withdrawal only on the day of their travel to Paris.
Siddhi Tambe aka BarB (bgirl_barb/Instagram)
The four Indian breakers - B-Boy Wildchild, B-Boy Flying Machine, B-Girl BarB and B-Girl Jo, who had qualified for the World Breaking Championships 2021 have been forced to pull out of the prestigious tournament, thanks to the covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking to The Bridge, the first women's national breaking champion of India – Siddhi Tambe aka B-Girl BarB, said that the BFI's decision came as a shock to her and the rest of the dancers, who were due to travel to France for the event.
"It came as a shock. The BFI informed us about this on the morning of 1st December – the day we were supposed to fly to Paris. They said they cannot risk allowing us to travel due to the new covid-19 variant," a dejected Tambe stressed.
The youngster though was quick to point out that these setbacks will nothing but make them stronger.
"I believe things like this will come and go. I cannot control it, the only thing in my control is bettering my craft."
The Breakdance Federation of India (BFI) announced the same via an Instagram story on their official account on Friday, 3rd December.
"In context to the cancellation of the trip to Paris, we would like to inform that we had asked the management at Paris about prevailing Covid conditions in Paris, but we did not get any response. Secondly, as the Covid situation is grim everywhere because of the Omicron variant, we can't risk the lives of athletes," the statement from BFI read.
The World Breaking Championships conducted by World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) will be held on 4th December 2021 in Paris, France with a total of 110 B-Boys and 87 B-Girls from across the world competing for the top prize.