DANS 2005: Письмо от Fred Bijster к Дорохову П.П.

Dear Mr. Dorokhov,

Since I prefer to go directly to persons involved in \"rumours\", you receive this e-mail.

I\'ve never had the pleasure of meeting you in person and you may not know me, so I\'ll give you a short introduction. I\'m Fred Bijster, organiser of the Dutch Open Championship 2005, with the acknowlegement and approval of the Dutch amateur Federation NADB, of which I am a member. Hope this rings a bell and gives you an impression of my position in this issue.

From reliable sources I received information that you are, within your own official capacity in Russia, spreading information about our competition that is invalid and that in consequence of that invalid information you are \"strongly advising\" people not to participate in our event. I am not accustomed to state anything, unless I\'m sure of and have proof of the facts to support any such statement. In general I first gather information and in order to get it I go to the source. I didn\'t receive any request for that from you. Maybe this is different in other countries, I don\'t know, but to me that seems normal.

Let me state the facts for you:

I\'ve organised this competition for more than 25 years
I\'ve done that always under the umbrella of your fellow Dutch amateur federation, member of the IDSF.
I\'ve also done it for some years under the umbrella of the IDSF (World Open), completely to their satisfaction
After the World Open was no longer granted we returned to the old format under the umbrella of the Dutch Amateur Federation
This now already for a couple of years
Last week, whilst in Zurich on a different mission, namely bringing harmony back between the IDSF and the WDDSC in an official meeting, the issue of the Dutch Open was brought forward by me to Mr. Vince Bain and Mr. Lukas Hinder. This because of \"rumours\".

They both stated on behalf of the IDSF that they saw no reason at all to take any stand against the Dutch Open. It was not and had not been even a point of discussion in IDSF-meetings; as they saw it, it is organised under the ruling of the Dutch Amateur Federation and, as a member of IDSF, it was clear that IDSF-competitors are free to participate in it.

You are said to have a different opinion on this, not in compliance with this IDSF statement made in Zurich. I\'m informed that you state this is an IDU-competition and therefore Russian couples should not participate. I can assure you that the Dutch Open was there long before the IDU and the IDU has got nothing to do with the very existence of the Dutch Open. I have facts to proof this. If my information about your statements is right, I dare you to show evidence on this issue; you have no facts to back up your statement; you cannot have, because it is untrue. Of course I have no control over what others state or publish about our event in their own right.

I can also tell you, that our festival was \"open\" long before the IDU existed and that the issue of being \"open\" is a totally different issue than being an \"IDSF-\", \"IDU-\" or any other competition. Therefore I emphasize again that we are not labelled, we are \"open\" and purposely so. A year ago I spoke, on initiative of our Dutch Amateur Federation, with another then-member of the IDSF-praesidiium on this issue, Mr. Harald Frahm. He offered me to take on an International Open and label it again as an IDSF-festival. I declined and gave reasons for it. In his capacity he told me that he understood my reasoning and accepted it.

I can assure you once again that the Dutch Open is definitely not an IDU-competition and also not an IDSF-competition. This is recognised and accepted by the IDSF, as Mr. Bain and Hinder confirmed to me.

If my information is right, I urge you to go back on your statements and take all neccessary action to undo the consequences of your publications and whatsoever. If my information is wrong and you didn\'t take action against our festival or made untrue statements I would like to hear that as well.

I\'d like to clear the air. I hope to hear from you soon.

Kindest regards,
Fred Bijster.