Bulk of sports event funding goes to bridge championship

Latvia's Ministry of Economics had planned to allocate 225,000 euros described officially as support for unnamed international sports events. According to Latvian Television's "de facto" program, it was an open secret within the Cabinet building that this funding was actually intended for a bridge championship to be held in Latvia.

Criticism prompted a change in approach

The situation grew more complicated after new Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, of the "Apvienotais saraksts" (United List) party, criticized the original approach to allocating the funds. This criticism pushed the responsible institutions to reframe the funding decision as a more formal, ostensibly fair competition, rather than simply granting the money to one federation without competition.

Federations competed for the money

Several sports federations competed against one another for a share of the available government funding for their respective events. However, despite the competitive format being introduced and other federations' claims, the largest share of the funding ultimately still went to the bridge championship.

"De facto" notes that the episode points to a broader issue in how state institutions decide on funding sports events — a process that was initially presented in general terms, without naming a specific event, creating the impression that the decision had effectively already been made before any formal competition was announced.