[robocup-worldwide] Urgent Announcement

[asada]

Dear all RoboCuppers,

assadn> I am sure the past two weeks been more difficult for the Chinese OC and the Trustees than anyone else. We all had worries about our reservations and preparations for the RoboCup 2008 competitions. Fortunately the Chinese OC and RoboCup Trustees managed to stabilize the situation and have RoboCup at the same place and time as planned.

Thank you for your understanding. 

assadn> We should all be understanding that this has been an unforeseen situation that could have happened anywhere else. Although I have to mention that the Chinese OC could have prevented it by making prior arrangements with their government. However, we should also consider the fact that Olympics has great impact and is highly influential.
assadn> So now I believe we should all try to be more understanding and follow the registration procedures normally as before. 
assadn> 
assadn> Alexander, I am sure that you and your team had gone through difficulties with your travel arrangements during the past two weeks. However, I think the question of "Who is guaranteeing that we will get a visa?" is not a fair question. Did we ever have guarantee on getting visa? Visa has always been an important issue for participants, and China is no different. So in my personal opinion I think we should all respect RoboCup 2008 rules regardless of the current incident.

Now, the LOC is working very hard to realize RoboCup 2008 at Suzhou
including their efforts for VISA issue, but as you may know that is
out of their control even though they do their best. So, now please
understand the situation and make your registration as early as
possible in order for you to get your visa smoothly.

We will reimburse the registration fees if the registered participants
unfortunately could not get their visa. The detailed procedure will be
announced later. Thanks.

assadn> See you all in China :-)

So do we! See you at Suzhou!

 -- Minoru Asada, the president of RoboCup Federation

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  Prof. Minoru Asada                          asada at ams.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp 
  Tel. +81-6-6879-7347                               Fax. +81-6-6879-7348
  Adaptive Machine Systems
  http://www.er.ams.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp/
  
  Research Director: 
  JST ERATO Asada Synergistic Intelligence Project         asada at jeap.org
  Tel. +81-6-6876-8884                               Fax. +81-6-6876-8994
  http://www.jeap.org

  Graduate School of Engineering,
  Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan            
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