Andrey SimonenkoCorrespondent SportAll materialsCongress of the International Skating Union (ISU) in Phuket (Thailand) on the second day of work adopted a key decision for figure skating to gradually increase the minimum age of participants in adult tournaments to 17 years. The congress also refused to accept an amendment to the charter that would allow the exclusion of Russian federations from the ISU, but extended the ISU Council's decision temporarily banning Russians from participating in international tournaments. On Tuesday, it was planned to discuss the gradual increase in the minimum age of participants in adult competitions to 17 years old, as well as a vote on an extraordinary proposal of the ISU Council to change the bylaws. If it were accepted, the ISU would have a legal justification for the current sanctions against Russian and Belarusian athletes, which is currently absent. Indeed, the ISU Council recognizes — a clause according to which national federations can be removed from membership in the organization, as well as punish athletes currently not in the bylaws. Accordingly, there are no grounds on which the Russians and Belarusians are now suspended from tournaments under the auspices of the ISU. All that is left is the March decision of the ISU Council, confirmed later in April. However, this did not prevent the ISU Congress from approving the decision of the Council at the beginning of the second day of its work. True, this happened in the most veiled way: the agenda item was called «questions and objections on the decisions of the ISU Council, General Director, Sports Director and Technical Committees adopted since the last Congress.» There were more than a dozen solutions on the list. Since no questions or objections arose, the decision of the ISU Council on the suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes «until further notice» remained in force.
