Head of the Moscow Region Biathlon Federation Alexei Nuzhdov on the air of the show “There is a subject!” on he talked about the competitions of the International Club Biathlon League, in which representatives of Belarus, China, Mongolia and Turkey plan to participate.
— You say that it is time for us to stop dancing to the rhythm of the international federation…
— Our colleagues at the International Biathlon Union (IBU) forbid us from organizing their tournaments where there are more than two countries. The Uzbeks, in my opinion, approached Viktor Maigurov (the head of the RBU) and he turned to the IBU. And there he was banned. They don’t allow us anywhere and even say we can’t do anything here. Absurd! We need to interact with the IBU, if they are our colleagues, of course.
But we have athletes, coaches, we have our sport, we are obliged to develop it. And if we listen to them, things will stagnate. We must do something. We have created a legally independent structure – the International League of Biathlon Clubs – and will do something without national federations so that the sport does not stagnate.
— Which countries can enter?
— We have already registered this league with the Belarusians. It already exists. We would like to organize the first round on November 18 and 19. We received notification from China that two clubs will come to us, Belarusians will come, clubs from Mongolia and Turkey will also most likely participate.
If we receive the necessary organizational assistance from government agencies, then the process will begin. We need to hold high-quality competitions, and we can’t do it worse than abroad.
— Are we degrading or not if we do not participate in international competitions?
—To a certain extent, yes. To say that sport will collapse in our country is too strong an argument. Let’s have a competition here. Our skaters were initially the strongest. It all depends on the school in sports.
— What is the motivation of our athletes if there are no competitors, which is obvious? What is all this for?
– We will not die. At the first world championships, we were first after the Norwegians. Was there no sports or something? Was! Motivation is a profession, you have to be the best at it,” Nuzhdov said on .
Russian and Belarusian biathletes have been suspended from competitions under the auspices of the International Biathlon Union (IBU).
Source : MatchTV
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