The Russians – on the return of fencers to international competitions: “I can’t believe they started allowing”

Athletistic/ Others. At the beginning of 2022, almost immediately after the Winter Olympics in Beijing, the capital of China, the geopolitical situation in the world has seriously changed. In this regard, Russia has been subjected to numerous sanctions by the world community. This situation did not bypass the sport. A new reality has emerged. This lies in the fact that the majority of Russian athletes cannot participate in international competitions.

Then, in 2022, the IOC recommended international federations of various sports to withdraw athletes from Russia and Belarus from international competitions. Many rushed to implement this recommendation. Although the degree of penalties was different. For example, in football, the Russian national team and Russian clubs were suspended from tournaments under the auspices of FIFA and UEFA, but at the same time the RFU retained its membership in these organizations. But the Biathlon Union’s membership of the IBU has been suspended.

Tennis players were the least affected by the sanctions. They were completely banned from competing under the auspices of the ITF. We are talking about the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup. At the same time, in most tournaments under the auspices of the ATP and WTA, Russians could enter the field. The decision to eliminate the Russians was made by the organizers of Wimbledon. For this, the London tournament was deprived of ranking points. We have also seen that there is no complete exclusion of Russians in chess. In 2022 Russian Grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi won the Candidates Tournament and entered the match for the World Chess Crown. This fight will take place in April of this year. Nepomniachtchi will face the Chinese Ding Liren.

During the year 2022, some athletes have been admitted to international competitions. For example, it is judo and boxing. In early 2023, the IOC proposed a new position. It has been proposed to allow Russians international debuts. However, no significant decision has been taken to date on this issue. Nevertheless, today, the tenth of March, the affair began. The FIE has decided to allow Russian fencers to participate in international competitions.

The vote took place at the congress of the organization. 89 votes against 46 were for the admission of the Russians. At the same time, the conditions for the return of the Russians to the international scene have not yet been discussed. For example, if the athletes of our country will compete under their own flag or under a neutral flag. Questions of expressing a political position were also not addressed. However, the news made many people happy.

Russian sports fans reacted to the admission of fencers to international competitions. They left their comments in the “Match TV” group in Vkontakte.

FC “Spartak-Moscow” | RWGladiators:

– Good news.

Irina Mazeva:

– Yes, good news. We await the decision of the other Federations.

Irina Mazeva:

– But again without a flag, most likely. And in individual starts, but in team competitions, as before, they will not. And in the team we have more medals than in the individual events.

Vladimir Maslov:

– I have heard many athletes say that the skiers will not leave without a flag and an anthem.

MaxMax:

– Our best, because I remember the Olympics!

Irina Mazeva:

– The process went, as they say. Now the IOC will issue some sort of statement against him again, something is silent so far. I can’t even believe they slowly started to admit it.

Dinar Khusainov:

– Have you forgotten who’s responsible? Usmanov.

German Makarevich:

– Well, here is real democracy in action, there are those who are against, there are those who are for, but the majority is for common sense. Under their flags and their anthem?

Alexander Sergeyev:

– But what’s the point of giving up, nobody watches fencing anyway.

Daria Kondratieva:

– The water is hot !

Sergei Romankov:

– Without flag or anthem, bad news.

Yaroslav Pyatikh, Athletistic