Olympic freestyle wrestling champion Sadulayev was refused entry to Romania at Bucharest airport; he will not participate in the European Championships

Double Olympic freestyle wrestling champion Abdulrashid Sadulayev Entry to Romania was refused at Bucharest airport, the Russian athlete’s visa raised doubts among the customs services, the president of the Russian Wrestling Federation told . Mikhail Mamiashvili .

The European wrestling championship takes place in the capital of Romania. Initially, Sadulaev did not receive a Romanian visa to participate in the tournament, after which he received a visa after re-applying through another country and traveled to Bucharest.

— Sadulayev was refused entry to Bucharest airport. We contacted the organizing committee of the European Championship, but they are powerless against the customs services. According to the officers who decided not to let Sadulaev in, they had doubts about Abdulrashid’s visa. But there is a little oddity in this decision. Before arriving in Romania with this visa, Sadulayev was already in the Schengen area, in Spain, from where he flew to Bucharest. In Spain, no questions were asked; there he left the airport and went to the boarding gate again.

We spent two and a half hours trying to resolve this issue. We have the full support of the tournament organizing committee, all the necessary confirmations and documents, but this did not help. They didn’t let me in because of a visa problem. Today, Abdulrashid returns to Russia. The rest of our guys who received a visa had no problems (at Bucharest airport).

This is an unprecedented situation. Romania’s political leaders gave written guarantees that all team members – regardless of Russia or another country – would receive visa assistance. In fact, they gave visas, but not to everyone,” Mamiashvili told .

Freestyle competitions will begin on February 16. Sadulaev competes in the weight category up to 97 kilograms.