Russian Diving Federation President Stanislav Druzhinin told that he considers International Swimming Federation (FINA) chief Hussein Al-Mussalam a true diplomat, which he confirmed in a speech at a convention in Melbourne.
The FINA president at the congress announced the conditions under which the Russians will be able to compete under the auspices of the Asian Confederation. Currently, Russian athletes, in the context of the situation in Ukraine, are suspended from participating in competitions under the auspices of FINA.
— I believe that the President of FINA is a true diplomat, he showed these qualities in his speech today and made it clear that he defends a unifying role in sport. He said that indeed FINA had not received a request for our transition. Our request was addressed to the Asian confederation for the possibility of participating in the departures. Today we learned that the international federation gives a chance to the participation of our athletes, we will also work in this direction and hope that thanks to these efforts we can return to competitions at the highest level. And then time will tell.
— Maria Polyakova participated in the filming of the video presentation of the new FINA name. Is this an important point?
– In the current situation, it is important for us that FINA does not forget our athletes. And Maria, despite everything, was elected to the Athletes’ Commission. The fact that she participates in some activities, in addition to her role in the commission, this cannot but please us,” Druzhinin told .
Source : MatchTV
