They will fly under a neutral flag
Six Russian athletes will take part in European fencing championship 2023, which will take place in Bulgaria.
Under the neutral flag, epee fencers Artem Sargsyan, Yana Bekmurozova and Polina Khaertinova, as well as saber fencers Valeria Kobzeva, Elena Lisina and Anna Smirnova are allowed to participate. It should be noted that Kobzeva has been repeatedly seen on social networks in support of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.
On March 10, 2023, an extraordinary congress of the International Fencing Federation was held online, which decided to return to competitions under the auspices of the FIE Russian and Belarusian athletes, as well as officials from these countries. The decision came into force in the second half of April 2023.
The Fencing Federation of Ukraine twice filed a request to block this decision, but their protest was not satisfied. At the same time, the Lithuanian Fencing Federation and the Scandinavian Fencing Union did not support the decision of the International Fencing Federation.
Due to the decision of the FIE Congress in Europe, a number of tournaments were canceled. France has canceled the May Challenge Monal in Saint-Maure-des-Fosses, Denmark has canceled the competition in Copenhagen and Finland has canceled the FIE satellite tournament in Kupittaa. Poland also canceled the World Cup in Poznan.
In turn, the FFU twice sent an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. The Fencing Federation of Ukraine asks to impose a ban on taking any actions aimed at fulfilling the decision of the Extraordinary FIE Congress, namely, to ban athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in tournaments
EURO 2023 will be held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from 16 to 18 June.
Source: Sportarena
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