General Secretary of the Czech Figure Skating Association Karel Obrecht told that the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR) currently does not allow Russian athletes to adopt a foreign flag.
After the International Skating Union (ISU) banned all Russian athletes from participating in international tournaments, some of them are trying to join the national teams of other countries. For example, Dario Chirisano, who previously competed in ice dancing with Irina Khavronina, wanted to compete for the Czech Republic, but as of May 2023, the FFKKR has not given official approval. Soon, dancers Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin (silver medalists of the Russian championship) received permission to join the Georgian national team, and in August this year, Sofya Samodelkina (winner of the Grand Prix stages among the juniors) was allowed to join the Kazakhstan national team.
Asked by a correspondent about possible new transfers of Russian athletes, Obrecht replied that this was very unlikely in the near future.
— As far as I know, the FFKKR must give permission to a skater who wants to start representing another country (including the Czech Republic). I don’t have any news for you at the moment, and I’m pretty sure I won’t have any in the future.
— Did any of the Russian athletes try to join your team after the story with Dario Chirisano?
– No, because they know they have no chance of breaking away.
— In other words, the FFKKR refuses to give permission to Russian skaters?
“Yes, they are forced,” Obrecht told .
Source : MatchTV
I’m John White and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. My specialty is covering sports news, which I’ve been doing for over 6 years now. During this time, I have worked as an author with Athletistic, a popular online news website focusing on sports topics.
