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The entries are now in for team leader positions in qualifying for the 2010 World Radiosport Team Championships in Russia, as 76 contesters from around the world submitted paperwork in an effort to claim 44 spots in next year's world championships of ham radio contesting.
In some cases, the biggest news was made by those who did not submit an entry, even though they would have qualified.
One notable operator missing from the entry pool was Masaki Masa Okano JH4UYB, who not only led qualifying in the all-Japan region in Asia, but also had the highest qualifying score of any operator in the entire world.
Instead of Okano, Kazunori Watanabe JK3GAD is in line to be the team leader from Japan. He was the only entry from the AS #1 region.
Watanabe was in 11th place in that region according to numbers tabulated by radio-sport.net.
Another top qualifier who did not submit an entry from the Asia #3 region was Steve Hodgson ZC4LI, who finished second in WRTC points.
Three team leader slots were open from AS #3, as Vladimir Vinichenko UN9LW and Marios Nicolaou 5B4WN grabbed the first two positions.
The third will have to be decided by the WRTC selection committee between Valery Zhilyaev UN7LZ and Champ E21EIC.
Zhilyaev claimed 3,785 points in his WRTC entry, while E21EIC was in at 3,519.
But the radio-sport.net numbers shows E21EIC with 3,981 points to 3,695 for UN7LZ.
As of now, that seems to be the only points controversy that exists for the 2010 WRTC Russia organizers.
The rules for these selections could be called into question over the qualifiers in one European region, as three Slovak contesters finished in the top five in Europe #2.
The problem is that the rules clearly state that, "A maximum of 2 (two) teams from a single country will be accepted." (That does not apply to the US.)
Read strictly, that rule could spell trouble for Rastislav Hrnko OM3BH, two calls from Slovakia finished ahead of him - Ivan Dobrocky OM3LA was second and Ladislav Vegh OM2VL was fourth.
But Hrnko pointed out today radio-sport.net that the entry of OM3LA really is from Austria.
"Ivan OM3LA -OE3DIA,OE1DIA is an Austrian citizen and his application contains it," Hrnko told radio-sport.net. "From Slovakia it is only OM2VL and OM3BH."
If that holds, it would keep Manfred Wolf DJ5MW from moving into the fifth team leader slot from the EU #2 region.
That decision - according to the WRTC 2010 rules - should have ended Kotovsky's hopes to qualify for the 2010 WRTC, as a DQ in any qualifying event knocks you out of the competition.
Kotovsky made no mention of the issue on his WRTC application, as he does have the fifth highest number of points in the EU #4 region.
His disqualification should open the door for Roman Tkachenko UR0MC to qualify for a team leader position.
An open letter from Kotovsky's UU7J team raised the issue of one Ukranian replacing another in WRTC 2010 because of that DQ.
"In the CQ WW SSB the teams from only one qualifying region were disqualified," said an open letter from UU7J teammates UU0JM and UU1AZ. "Nobody thought why only EU-4? Just take a look at the table of contenders for WRTC and most probably it will become clear WHO, WHY and FOR WHAT REASON!"
Meanwhile in the United States, there were no surprises in the four qualifying regions, as all of the top finishers submitted entries.
A question mark seems to hang only over one of them, as Mike Wetzel W9RE told radio-sport.net that he hasn't determined if he will go to Russia or not.
"Someone suggested I submit just in case," Wetzel told radio-sport.net. "I have not had much time to figure out what I am doing."
Rumors that Wetzel might not go set off a scramble of lower placed stations, as six entries were received from NA #2.
If Wetzel bows out, the best placed station to replace him is Terry Zivney N4TZ.
Check back with radio-sport.net for all the updates on WRTC 2010
At the WRTC web site you can not only see which stations have sent in their entries, but also click on their calls to see how they arrived at their score.
Your final score represents the best eight qualifying scores from WRTC contests over the past three years.
This list is according to an unofficial radio-sport.net review of the qualifying scores, and is different from the claimed points submitted by some operators.
