MOSCOW, March 21, Svetlana Bonopartova. International fencing competitions will not lose anything because of the boycott of Ukrainian athletes, said the president of the Russian Fencing Federation, Ilgar Mammadov.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Fencing Federation announced a boycott of all tournaments under the auspices of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) with the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus. Finland and Germany also announced the cancellation of tournaments due to the admission of Russian and Belarusian fencers to international starts.
“It is their choice, if they don’t want to participate, let them not participate. Their absence will not be a loss for the competition. If other countries also want to miss important competitions for political reasons, this is a big stupidity. athletes and federations have common sense, they will not join Ukraine,» Mammadov said.
«As for Ukrainian sports, their tennis players will compete with pleasure and are not going to boycott anything. That is, they even have a division within society. But someone still shows common sense and does not follow political motives», — added Mammadov.
In March, the FIE Congress allowed the Russians to participate in international competitions.