Dubai FPC 2014 faces angry athlete backlash and huge financial loss

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  • Not to plan: The inaugural Dubai FPC has announced losses of AED1.8 million.

    Organisers of the 2014 Dubai Fitness and Performance Classic have issued an apology to fans and athletes after the inaugural event suffered huge setbacks that resulted in the tournament getting cancelled as well as massive financial losses.

    Billed as "the biggest Fitness & Performance event in the Middle East", the Dubai FPC was beset by a number of issues that saw a last-minute venue change, poor ticket sales and the withdrawal of a key sponsor.

    While the IFBB Pro Body Building Contest went ahead – with Dexter Jackson scooping the top prize of $45,000 (Dh165,000) – the rest of the event was cancelled, much to the outrage of athletes who were not properly notified of the cancellation.

    A statement released on the official 2014 Dubai FPC Facebook page read: "The organiser of the event is now over AED 1.8 Million in debt (after) hosting this event, our key sponsor pulling out at the last minute resulted in us moving to a new location. Then again last minute, the final venue did not wish to work with us. We then took the most drastic decision to cancel the event.

    "We had a very poor turnout in ticket sales," the statement continued. "If (sales) had been more positive (then) it would have enabled us to minimise the impact of losing our main sponsor.

    "We set the bar too high for the first event, paying such big prize money to attract the biggest IFBB Pro Stars and even the venue was the wrong one with no major sponsors to cover the costs.

    "However, all of your complaints are warranted. We appreciate the preparation, time and costs that the competing athletes put in for this event."

    A number of athletes who were set to compete at the 2014 Dubai FPC have made their feelings known in response to the cancellation and the subsequent statement.

    "How disappointing the women's competition was cancelled and the athletes did not even receive a phone call or email to say it had been cancelled, it was just removed from the programme," wrote Laura Partanen, who was due to compete. "I trained for 6 months and travelled to Dubai, very unprofessionally managed."

    Another competitor Peter Norwell wrote: "Absolute joke. I spent 10 months prepping for this and put myself through hell to achieve a competition physique. Found out this morning it was off.

    "They didn't even have the decency to contact the competitors, just posted it on the website. Dubai FPC, you should be ashamed, very ashamed."

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