General Director of the International Club Biathlon League (ICBL) Alexey Nuzhdov in an interview with , he said that athletes from China and other countries have been officially invited to this season’s competitions.
For the first time, the MLKB Cup stage took place in the 2023/24 season, biathletes from Russia and Belarus took part in the competition. This year, the MLKB Cup will take place on November 16 and 17 in Khanty-Mansiysk. As part of the competition, it is planned to organize mass starts and a mixed relay.
– Last year we said that Chinese biathletes would participate, but they did not agree, but we talked about it for a reason – we had official letters, official consent, and we even knew the composition, which would come. And all this happened before their departure, they even bought them tickets, but a day before departure, Chinese colleagues were forced, for reasons which are now clear to us, to their great annoyance, to abstain from the trip.
This year we continue to work with them, they are all officially invited, informal negotiations are also underway, but colleagues are free to make their decision as long as it is positive. But given the experience of last year, only when they are already in place can we say that they are participating. For now, we hope they attend, but time will tell if that will be the case or not.
We are also negotiating with other countries, but we take into account our negative experience of interaction with the IBU last year – I can also understand them, we do not hide what we want to do. It seems simple: since they are doing this to us, we will not stand idly by, but we will create an alternative. Naturally, if they cannot “help”, I will put it this way, the Russians and Belarusians, creating their international departures, are doing everything possible for this,” Nuzhdov told .
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Source : MatchTV
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