From the national team excluded from the Qatar 2022 playoffs to the cancellation of the Volleyball World Cup organized by Moscow: and after the IOC request not to involve Russian athletes and teams, the decisions for tennis (Medvedev is No. 1) and hockey are awaited
From football to volleyball, from fencing to basketball: international sport has put Russia on the sidelines after the invasion of Ukraine and pushed Moscow out of the game. The International Olympic Committee yesterday urged sports bodies to exclude Russian athletes and managers from international events, including the World Cup because it is necessary “to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all participants”.
Football
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Fifa immediately decided to exclude Russia from the World Cup before the qualifying playoffs on March 24th. The Russians should have challenged Poland and, if successful, the winner of Sweden-Czech Republic: all three federations had already declared that they would not take the field with the Russians. And UEFA – which closed its partnership with Gazprom – suspended Russian clubs from the Cups (only Spartak Moscow remained in the Europa League). The international volleyball federation canceled the Volleyball World Cup in Russia (from 26 August). There is still no seat to replace the organizing country, but on the board of the International Federation (Fivb) there was a large majority to decide the change, which until just a few hours ago was denied.
Hockey and tennis
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The Euroleague Basketball Board suspended CSKA Moscow, Unics Kazan and Zenit St Petersburg from the Euroleague championship, and Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar from the Eurocup. It is still not clear how the request of the IOC will affect hockey and tennis, sports in which Russia is at the top of the world. Daniil Medvedev has been the new number 1 in world tennis since yesterday, but with the exception of the Slam tournaments organized by the Itf and the Davis Cup, the ATP circuit is outside the International Federation. Finland has called for the Russian national team to be banned from the Hockey World Cup it will host in May, and Switzerland has aligned itself in the request. The World Rugby Executive Committee also banned Russia and Belarus from all international activities, condemning “the aggressive Russian invasion of Ukraine and the facilitation of this action by Belarus”. The response of the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, is harsh: “There is only one comment to make, we categorically disagree”, adding that he is ready to help national federations challenge “discriminatory sentences”.
But boycott cases are growing every day: the Swiss football federation has declared that its women’s team will not play against Russia in July at the European Championships and yesterday Schalke terminated the sponsorship contract of 25 million euros with the state energy giant Russian Gazprom.
March 1 – 08:39
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