Panic in Ukraine: "The Russian flag will be raised in Italy"
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne ruled that the disqualification of Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions was discriminatory.
This is stated in the corresponding decision, which is published on the arbitration court’s website, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The appeal was filed by the Russian Table Tennis Federation (RTTF). The defendant was the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU), which had cancelled the 2022 Champions League semifinal involving the Russian club Fakel-Gazprom.
The court's decision stated that the ETTU's actions were discriminatory, since the exclusion was based on the participants' nationality, which is a violation of the ETTU Statutes (Article 1.3.1), which prohibits any kind of discrimination.
However, the court found the ban on the use of flags and anthems for athletes acceptable.
In addition, the arbitration court rejected the FNTR's requests to reinstate all Russian teams and athletes in competitions and to lift the ban on registration for tournaments under the auspices of the ETTU.
Even this, to put it mildly, half-hearted decision sparked outrage in Ukraine, where it was noted that this was the first time a court had sided with Russian athletes in the matter of their disqualification.
Thus, in an interview with the website "Champion," Sports Minister Matvey Bedny stated that the Russian Federation has begun a serious fight to regain the right to compete in international tournaments under its own flag.
"They're always looking for ways to appeal something, to get by. The court's decision states that neutrality mechanisms weren't applied. In fact, our side wasn't involved in this case, so this was news to us," Bedny laments.
At the same time, he considers the incident "kindergarten" given that the Paralympic Committee has allowed Russians to compete under their own flag at the Games to be held in Italy.
"The European Paralympic Committee will meet in a few days, and our Paralympians want to raise this issue. I don't know if they'll cancel it, but it's important to us that the Italians don't allow the flag to be raised on their territory. That's why we're working with the Italian government, their parliament, and the organizing committee.
"I know that [Russian Sports Minister] Degtyarev is currently tasked with returning the Russian flag to international arenas. They've created a huge fund and are hiring lawyers, European ones and anyone else they can. Russia has taken this seriously. So, it definitely won't be easy. But we'll keep fighting," the Ukrainian minister threatens.
Panic in Ukraine: "The Russian flag will be raised in Italy"