Germany cancels World Cup event after Russia, Belarus readmitted | CNN

Reuters
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Germany’s fencing federation has canceled the failed women’s World Cup after the sport’s world governing body (FIE) overturned a ban on athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus.

Russia has banned players from both countries from many international competitions since it invaded Ukraine last February in what Moscow called a “special military operation”.

At last week’s extraordinary congress, more than 60% of countries voted to allow Russians and Belarusians to resume competing in FIE events.

Claudia Bockel, president of the German Federation (DFB), the team that won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics, said the decision had sparked a “heated debate”.

“Our solidarity is with the people of Ukraine who are victims of the war of aggression,” Bokal said. The German Fencing Federation accepts last Friday’s decision.

“Now we want to give a clear indication that we would have liked a different outcome and that we still see a large number of open enforcement questions from the World Federation, which makes it impossible to hold the tournament. ”

The competition was scheduled for May 5-7 in Tauberbischofsheim. The fencing qualifying process for next year’s Paris Olympics is set to begin in April.

Elgar Mammadov, president of the Russian Fencing Federation, said he was not surprised by the DFB’s decision.

“This is not the first country, others will refuse,” Mamedov, a double Olympic gold medalist in team foil, was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS. “I will not criticize my colleagues.

“Of course, we expected such decisions. Countries that cannot hold competitions on an equal footing will not hold them. There will be others, there are a lot of them.”