President of the Russian Skating Union (SKR) Nikolai Guliaev On the air of the program “There is a topic” on , he talked about international competitions that should be held in our country in the near future.
As learned on Thursday from the press service of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the commission of inquiry withdrew the complaint filed in April 2022 against the ISU decision to suspend the Russians. Gulyaev took over as head of the Investigative Committee in June 2022, after this lawsuit was filed.
Later on Thursday, a source told that all Russian sports federations had withdrawn their complaints to the CAS against the decision to ban them from international competitions.
— The claims were withdrawn earlier, so the interest in this case is surprising.
— Are you calling for resolving internal problems rather than discussing with international federations? What is your federation doing to replace international competitions? Or contest the decision of the international federation?
— The position was advertised a long time ago. This was also due to new admission requirements from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). We are now waiting for positive news. I believe they will allow Russian athletes to compete.
But the season has already started. Most likely we won’t get anything this year. We are now using this situation, and it is pure chaos, to draw the attention of the sports community, the regions and the population to our internal problems and to capitalize on the development of this sport (short track , skating of all types). speed skating). This is one of our priority areas.
We organize a large number of all-Russian competitions: Russian cups, national championships. Athletes must show competitive seconds. We would like speed skating to be viewed from a slightly different perspective, given the crazy popularity of speed skating in the USSR and in the recent past.
— Is there an idea to organize international competitions with the participation of friendly countries in your sport?
— There is currently an ISU communiqué which temporarily prohibits Russian speed skaters from participating in competitions or organizing international competitions on the territory of the Russian Federation. But that’s when we talk about national teams. However, if it comes to competitions between clubs and cities, no one prohibits their holding. This is the path we are following. And we plan to organize the next international competition, albeit for children, in February in St. Petersburg in short track speed skating: an open competition for the prizes of Yuri Alexandrovich Pavlovsky, one of the patriarchs of this wonderful sport, which was held at the origins of the development of short track speed skating in our country.
We have sent invitations to Korea, China, Mongolia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Turkey. We are awaiting a response from our colleagues. It was not an invitation from the TFR, but from the St. Petersburg organizing committee. We are not breaking any ISU rules and we are not letting any of our colleagues down. And within this paradigm, we plan to go further. Without inviting current athletes who compete under the aegis of national federations. We are talking about younger athletes and, perhaps, in an unofficial format, not at the rank of official competitions. But in a format that will help popularize speed skating. Maybe a few gala competitions, non-classic distances. We are also working in this direction. We plan to hold the first such event on Krylatsky Ice in Moscow at the end of March. I invite all sports fans to participate!
— Have the countries you mentioned above given a response?
— We have just sent out invitations. We have inside information that most likely we will see representatives of two or three countries at these competitions,” Gulyaev said on .
Russian speed skaters, short track skaters and figure skaters have been suspended from competitions under the auspices of the ISU due to the situation in Ukraine.
Source : MatchTV
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