The Ukrainian national judo team boycotts the world championship after the admission of the Russians

The Ukrainian national judo team has decided to boycott the world championship, which will be held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, in May. This was reported by the head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Vitaliy Dubrova, in a comment to the Suspilne Sport publication. The decision is related to the admission of judokas from Russia and Belarus to the competition.

The day before, the International Judo Federation announced that Russian and Belarusian wrestlers will be admitted to the championship in neutral status. Dubrova emphasized that the decision was made on the last day of submitting applications for the World Championship.

17 “individual neutral athletes” – citizens of Russia and Belarus – were admitted to the championship. As previously reported by “Suspilne Sport”, at least 7 judokas from this list represent the army club CSKA, and some are recognized as servicemen of the Russian army. Dubrova drew attention to the fact that the International Olympic Committee, in its recommendations on the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to competitions, did not recommend the admission of athletes with valid contracts with the Armed Forces of these countries.

Dubrova called the decision of the International Judo Federation “a humiliation of all Olympic principles.”

• Russian and Belarusian athletes were suspended from international competitions in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In March, the IOC recommended admitting them to the competition in a neutral status, provided that they did not speak out in support of the war and were not connected to the army. This decision provoked sharp criticism in Ukraine and a number of other countries. At the same time, international federations for various sports are autonomous in making decisions about whether Russians and Belarusians will be allowed to compete or not. In particular, the ban continues to apply in almost all team sports.