The Ukrainian national judo team will boycott the World Championship due to the admission of Russians to the tournament

Author:
Oleksiy Yarmolenko
Date:

The national judo team of Ukraine will boycott the world championship due to the admission of Russians to the competition. Russian and Belarusian athletes were admitted under a neutral flag.

The head coach of the national team, Vitaliy Dubrova, told about this in the commentary of "Suspilne Sport".

He stated that the decision to boycott was made solely because of the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes. The International Judo Federation announced this on the last day of submission of applications. She also published a list of "individual neutral athletes", in which Russians and Belarusians were found.

In addition, the head coach reported that the International Federation did not even check those it admitted to the World Cup. Among them there are many representatives of CSKA. And the International Olympic Committee noted in its recommendations: athletes who have contracts with the armed forces of Russia or Belarus should not be allowed to compete.

"First, they saw the statement of the International Judo Federation about admission, the traditional "bridge to peace", that is, as they always write, "we are glad to welcome athletes from Russia and Belarus to the World Championship." The Olympic selection is ongoing and all athletes must be on equal terms. About 15 minutes later, the application of the so-called Russian team of neutral athletes appeared. And in the evening they also added Belarusian judokas — a boy and a girl," he explained.

According to him, an official statement of the Ukrainian Judo Federation is being prepared for Monday. The Ukrainian athletes themselves are disappointed because they were preparing for the World Championship.

The World Judo Championship will be held on May 7-13 in Doha. In addition to medals, athletes will choose points that will go into the Olympic rating — it will determine the selection for the 2024 Olympics in each weight category.