WFDF 2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championship Reaches Quarterfinal Stage
23 June 2016
The WFDF 2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championship reached the quarterfinal stage of the event beginning today, with the top seeds in each division of play remaining largely intact.
The preliminary and play-off rounds of the WUGC 2016 are being held at the University College London (UCL) Sports Ground in London Colney. The tournament organizing committee, headed by UK Ultimate CEO Simon Hill and Tournament Director Jon Pugh, set up 27 high-quality grass competition pitches that cover a total area of 143 acres. The opening ceremony was held on Sunday 19 June. The final day's gold medal games will be held on Saturday 25 June at Allianz Park stadium, home of Rugby's reigning Premiership Champions, Saracens RFC.
Read the full Press Release here as pdf.
“It’s been an action-packed week so far,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. Despite a number of incredibly close and spirited games, there have been few upsets in the first four days of play and we are heading into the play-off rounds with most of the top seeds intact. Spectators at the stadium or through broadcast should be treated to a great day of Ultimate at the finals on Saturday. As our largest World Championship ever, it has also been exciting to welcome for the first time a number of countries to our premier event.”
Slightly more than 3,000 athletes are participating in the event, representing 115 Ultimate teams from 39 countries. Competition is being held in five divisions: mixed gender (30 teams), men’s (31), women’s (26), men’s masters (17), and women’s masters (11). In addition, there are 8 teams competing in the discipline of Guts Frisbee.
For Ultimate in the mixed division, Canada (seeded 1) will play Colombia (10), Australia (2) takes on Japan (3), USA (4) faces off against Philippines (7), and Great Britain (5) goes up against France (8). In the men’s division, it will be USA (1) vs. Colombia (10), Great Britain (2) vs. Australia (7), Canada (3) vs. Germany (4), and Japan (5) vs. Belgium (8). In the women’s division, Japan (1) will play Australia (5), USA (2) takes on Switzerland (6), Canada (3) faces off against Russia (13), and Colombia (4) goes up against Germany (11). Semi-finals matchups will be held Friday and the finals played on Saturday.
In the masters’ division of Ultimate, play is now at the semi-final level, with the finals to be held Friday. In the men’s masters, Canada (1) will face off against Great Britain (8) and the USA (4) will take on Denmark (5). In the women’s masters, it will be USA (1) vs. Japan (4) and Canada (2) vs. Australia (3).
For Guts, play resumes Friday with a semi-final “play in” round for the fourth and fifth place teams after round robin play, Great Britain and Germany 1. The winner of that game will take on USA1 in the first semi-final game, with Japan vs. USA2 in the other semi-final. The winners of the semi-finals will compete for the gold medal at 1700 BST later in the day.
Over two dozen games have already been livestreamed throughout the week The game streams are available at livestream.com, at wfdf.org/live, the WFDF Facebook page, WFDF’s youtube channel, and the World Games channel. A two hour broadcast will be televised in North America on Saturday 25 June on CBS Sports Network from 1600-1800 EDT.
A total of 39 countries are competing in the 2016 WUGC. These are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, People’s Republic of China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Spain, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Hong Kong China, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Republic of Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, and USA.
What is Ultimate?
Ultimate is a non-contact, self-refereed team sport played with a flying disc (aka a Frisbee). Two teams of seven players compete on a playing field about the same length as an American football field, but narrower. At each end of the playing field there is an end zone. Each team defends one end zone. They score a goal if one of their players catches the disc in the opposite end zone. The player with the disc is called the thrower. The thrower may not run with the disc. Instead they move the disc by passing to teammates in any direction. The defensive team gets possession of the disc if an offensive team’s throw is not caught by a player of the same team. Then the defensive team becomes the offensive team and can try to score in the opposite end zone. A key element of the game is that there are no referees and players make their own calls on the field, under a code known as “spirit of the game.”
What is Guts Frisbee?
Guts is played by two teams of five players each. The playing field consists of two parallel goal-lines 15 m in length and 14 m apart. The teams stand in line opposite each other. Each team defends a goal- line. The disc is thrown back and forth between the teams. The object is to throw the disc through the line of defending players. The throwing team scores a point when the other team does not catch a correctly thrown disc. The receiving team scores a point when the disc is not thrown correctly. When a correctly thrown disc is caught by the other team, no points are scored. The team that first reaches 21 points wins the game.
About WFDF:
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) serves as the international governing body of all flying disc (frisbee) sports. WFDF is made up of the National Associations (“Members”) that govern their respective disc sports in over 65 countries. WFDF is the International Federation recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Flying Disc sports, a member of the Association of Recognised International Federations (ARISF), a member of SportAccord and the International World Games Association, is recognized as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) registered corporation in the State of Colorado, USA, and it is a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Agency code. WFDF estimates that over 7.5 million people globally play disc sports competitively.
For more information, please contact:
Volker Bernardi, Executive Director
World Flying Disc Federation
Engasse 2a, D - 55296 Harxheim GERMANY
+49-176-6419-7702 •
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• www.wfdf.org
Latest WFDF Communiques
01 December 2020 - Official Communication 
The World Flying Disc Federation ("WFDF") is pleased to announce that it has launched today a new official website and domain name "wfdf.sport." The web site revamp was undertaken to upgrade the underlying site architecture, from the last overhaul in late 2011, to current standards, including native mobile accessibility. WFDF signed an agreement in 2018 to use the dot sport internet domain, which is managed by the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) for ICANN, as use of the dot sport domain shows we are a recognized member of the international sports community.
09 November 2020 - Official Communication 
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that WFDF has joined the UNAOC One Humanity Campaign, which calls for solidarity, compassion and unity in the face of discrimination and divisiveness. The International Federations which sign up to the initiative have pledged their commitment to the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) campaign. The campaign will see signatory sports champion One Humanity by demonstrating their commitment to peaceful and inclusive societies through a range of initiatives and projects that will be featured on a dedicated online platform in future to increase the visibility of this important campaign.
30 October 2020 - Official Communication
Planning to resume global Flying Disc events starting in July 2021
Following the March 24 announcement by the World Flying Disc Federation that all Flying Disc championships in 2020 were cancelled or postponed due to the rapid spread COVID-19 virus and effect of the pandemic on international travel, WFDF has been pushing forward with negotiations, plans, and preparations for a full calendar of events for 2021.
As of today, WFDF is planning to hold its World Under-24 Ultimate Championships (3-10 July, Limerick, IRL), World Ultimate and Guts Championships (24-31 July, Leeuwarden, NED), World Overall Championships (July, USA), and World Beach Ultimate Championships (November, USA). The World Team Disc Golf Championships (Croatia) will be postponed to August 2022 and World Masters Ultimate championships (Gold Coast, AUS), which was initially announced to be postponed to September 2021, has been cancelled.
21 October 2020 - Official Communication
WFDF seeks interest from juniors (Under 18) to participate in the UTS Virtual Youth Festival 2020
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is proud to announce that we have been invited to participate in the United Through Sports (UTS) Virtual Youth Festival (VYF) 2020. This event is a unique opportunity for the WFDF juniors athletes to be involved in a United through Sport movement that promotes health and safety through competition of an online festival. WFDF is seeking interest from juniors (Under 18) who wish to participate.
The Festival will be hosted on a digital platform, and youth participants will need a recording device (such as a mobile phone) and access to the internet to participate during the finals on the 20-22 November 2020. Participants will need to upload their video to participate. The Festival finals coincide with the United Nations’ World Children’s Day.
02 October 2020 - Official Communication
Overview
WFDF is seeking enthusiastic, skilled and committed candidates for its 2020 Elections. Complete nominations must be received by the Nominating Committee by October 28, 2020. The target date for the start of the elections is between November 1 and November 15, 2020, with a targeted end date of no later than December 15, 2020. Results should be announced by December 31, 2020 subject to confirmation of acceptance by elected candidates. The following positions are open for election for two-year terms commencing on January 1, 2021 and concluding December 31, 2022:
Board of Directors
· President (2 year term)
· Secretary (2 year term)
· Disc Golf chair (2 year term)
· Overall Committee Chair (2 year term)
· Guts Chair (2 year term)
· Beach Ultimate Chair (2 year term)
Continental President, Africa (to be elected by Continental Association)
Continental President, Europe (to be elected by Continental Association)
01 October 2020 - Official Communication
Strengthens its commitment to equity and equality in all aspects
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved a WFDF Non-Discrimination Policy during their Board meeting on 20 September 2020.
Among its various provisions, the policy:
· affirms that WFDF is “fully committed to the principles and practice of equality of opportunity. It is responsible for ensuring that all people, irrespective of race or ethnic origin, culture, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, socio-economic status, and physical attributes, have a genuine and equal opportunity to participate in Flying Disc at all levels and in all roles;”
· states that WFDF ”and its members, have an ethical, moral and business responsibility to take stock of their current position and plan for the inclusion of a wider range of participants;” and
· establishes that this “policy has been produced to prevent/tackle any potential/current discrimination or other unfair treatment, whether intentional or unintentional, direct or indirect, against its employees, members, participants and volunteers.”
28 September 2020 - Official Communication
Introduces structures on safeguarding athletes from all forms of misconduct
The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved of the new WFDF Safe Sport Policy during its meeting on 20 September 2020. WFDF’s policy on safeguarding athletes and participants from discrimination, harassment and abuse shall describe the processes to help prevent this from occurring and define the procedures available to WFDF participants to bring forward a complaint related to a WFDF Event. It will also describe the consequences of a breach of this policy, including interim measures and specific sanctions. It consists of two parts: a Safe Sport Policy for WFDF events and WFDF Personnel (Part 1) and Guidelines for member National Federations on developing a policy for safeguarding participants from misconduct (Part 2).
25 September 2020 - Official Communication
Brings WFDF membership to 88 Countries
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that its Congress has approved the Federación de Disco Volador de Nicaragua (FEDIVONIC) as its newest member national federation, increasing WFDF’s membership to 88 national member federations (NFs).
“It is a great pleasure to see organised Flying Disc sport development success in Central America with a growth of our family during these times. This is another example of the success of the WFDF Development grants program, as we provided a grant in 2017 to Nicaragua which catalyzed their development,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “We are looking forward to welcoming more members from Central America and Africa very soon.”
24 August 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is proud to announce that WFDF has published the WFDF Gender Equity Toolkit in its first edition. The WFDF Gender Equity Toolkit was commissioned by the WFDF Women in Sport Commission and funded by the WFDF Development Program supported by IOC funding. Alicia Lui was lead author for the project.
“Gender equity - the process of giving fair treatment to all individuals based on their needs, interests, experiences, irrespective of gender - is crucial to ensure everyone can participate and enjoy Disc Sports fully around the world,” stated WFDF Women in Sport Commission chair Caroline “Caz” Malone. “The WFDF Tournament Directors Toolkit (“TDT”) provides Tournament Organizing Committees (“TOCs”) with information about gender equity, along with practical ideas to stage events that are more gender equitable. There are also strategies that everyone in the community can use to achieve better gender balance, as well as handy checklists, and a quiz at the end.”
07 August 2020 - Official Communication
The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that WFDF will be featured on TAFISA’s Social Media channels in the frame of the TAFISA Family Day. With more than 270 members from over 150 countries on all continents, TAFISA aims to achieve an “active world’ by globally promoting and facilitating access for every person to Sport for All and physical activity.
An online campaign, the TAFISA Family Day celebrates the members’ commitment for a better world. TAFISA Family Day is a great opportunity for the members to share their efforts in combatting physical inactivity through Sport for All and increase awareness within TAFISA Family and the global Sport for All Movement.
|
Play True!
 |
