Athletistic/Hockey. In 2022, a lot has changed in global sport. Russian athletes began to face massive sanctions, including exclusion from international competitions. The IIHF notably suspended the Russian team from tournaments under its auspices. Similar measures were taken against the Belarusian national team.
The national teams of Russia and Belarus missed the 2022 and 2023 world championships and are also not included in the number of participants in the upcoming world championships in Prague and Ostrava. During the Euro Hockey Tour, the Russian team was replaced by the Swiss team.
Every year at the IIHF congress the situation of the Russian national team is examined. In particular, today, February 13, the organization decided to extend the suspension of Russian and Belarusian national teams from participation in tournaments under its auspices. So, in the 2024/2025 season, our country’s national team will not return to the international stage.
The IIHF also reacted to this decision abroad. Foreign hockey fans left their comments on the English-speaking forum Hfbroads.
Shocking:
– Damn, I’m surprised the IIHF hasn’t shut down yet.
EdJovanovski:
– The IIHF is a joke.
Locker :
– I hoped that there would be some kind of exception for juniors, since next year the Russian junior U20 team would be simply extremely strong (I would not be surprised if this team turned out to be even the strongest , at least on paper), but alas.
Pavel Bouchnevich:
– Another year of weakening of international hockey. I hope we don’t need to end NOM to allow Russia to return. Hostilities do not always end quickly. The security excuse is so bogus. This has nothing to do with security. Nobody brings a military agenda to these tournaments. Politics, but we can’t discuss that, so I won’t elaborate.
KirkAlbuquerque:
– Why can’t they compete as “athletes from Russia” or something like that, where they do not represent the Russian Federation, but only themselves. It would not be the first time.
Hanji:
“It’s disappointing that cancel culture is taking over.” At the very least, we can be grateful that the IIHF was not constantly caught on cue during the Cold War. If they had done that, hockey would be in a much worse place today.
Yaroslav Piatykh, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
