MOSCOW, Oct 2 Italian Giorgio Scarso elected President of the European Fencing Confederation (EFC) ), according to Instagram (the activities of Meta (social networks Facebook and Instagram) are banned in Russia as extremist) organizations. Voting took place on Saturday in Warsaw at an extraordinary congress of the EFC. 24 delegates voted for Scarso, 20 — for the vice-president of the organization, the head of the Icelandic Fencing Federation Nikolai Mateev. Luxembourger Pascal Tesch withdrew from the election before the start of voting. Scarso is 76 years old. From 2005 to 2021, he headed the Italian Fencing Federation. Since 2016, the head of the organization has been Russian Stanislav Pozdnyakov, who was re-elected for a new term in 2021. On March 20, the EFC executive committee submitted a vote of no confidence to Pozdnyakov, as there were concerns about a conflict of interest in connection with the exclusion of Russian fencers from the competition. In May, the EFC congress voted for his resignation from the presidency, in connection with which he had to resign early. In June, the organization did not adopt amendments that would have suspended Russia's membership in the organization.
