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21 countries in Odense: back to square 1999
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18 Aug 2009 at 20:21 | Published by: JJM | Views: 9511 | News search ![](img/forum/magnifier.png)
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![21 countries in Odense: back to square 1999 21 countries in Odense: back to square 1999](../photo/news/medium/wm_history_09_090818_202112.jpg)
Countries participating in WMF World Championships or World Games. (Photo by JJM 2009)
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Odense will host players from 21 countries, which is 50% of the 42 member nations of WMF. 18 European nations, two Asian countries, and one player from North America will show their skills at the felt and eternite courses of Fyn Arena.
The number of member countries in WMF has been steadily rising in recent years, but many of the new member countries have not shown much or any competition activity. The number of countries at WMF World Championships is now same as it was 10 years ago in Papendal. How much the global recession and the combination of felt and eternite affects the participation rates this year, will be impossible to estimate.
The foundation stone of WMF major tournaments are 9 European countries which have participated in every world event since 1989: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. Belgium has participated in every WMF world event before this year, but now did not send any players to Odense 2009.
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