Protection of the Russian gymnast Ivan Kulyak disqualified for one year by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), expects the decision following the Gymnastic Ethics Foundation (GEF) appeal tribunal hearing may be changed, said the lawyer for athlete Alexei Panich at .
The meeting of the Appeals Tribunal was held on August 15 remotely.
From our perspective, the hearing went well. All the arguments of the defense have been presented, and counter-arguments of the International Gymnastics Federation have also been presented. The panelists posed many questions, including to Ivan Kulyak. In accordance with the rules, the decision is not rendered on the day of the hearing, it will be rendered within one month. Nothing else will happen during this time.
During this hearing, we were able to present all of our arguments. We believe that the Panel understood these arguments. We assume that certain adjustments will be made to the decision rendered by the first instance. It is still difficult to predict whether these adjustments will be significant or not. We expect the decision to be even better than the one we challenged,” Panich said.
Kulyak was suspended for one year by the WEF Disciplinary Commission in May for participating in the parallel bars and medal ceremony with the letter Z on his uniform at the World Cup in Doha in March. Kulyak’s team appealed the decision on June 7.
Source : MatchTV
