MILAN: Ukrainian Igor Reizlin’s hopes of an epee world fencing title were dashed as he withdrew from his bout with Vadim Anokhin in line with his government’s policy of barring athletes from facing Russians. A source within the International Fencing Federation (FEI) told AFP the Tokyo Games bronze medallist had presented a medical certificate to justify his withdrawal. A minor consolation for Reizlin is that the certificate safeguards the small number of qualifying points he has obtained for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Anokhin, like his compatriots and Belarusian fencers, are obliged to compete as neutral athletes due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year — their countries are not permitted to fence in the team competitions. Reizlin’s fellow star Olha Kharlan faces the same problem yesterday because the four-time individual sabre world champion has been drawn against Russia’s Anna Smirnova. Kharlan, though, will be able to take part from Saturday in the team event — in which she won Olympic gold in 2008 and silver in 2016. Ukraine’s government has taken a tough stance since Russian and Belarusian athletes were permitted to return to competition earlier this year.
They withdrew their judokas from the world championships in May. Their tennis players, though, have had to play each other since the invasion. Recently, though, there have been rumblings from athletes including Kharlan they are not happy with this policy. As for a boycott of the Olympics themselves, Ukraine’s sports minister Vadym Gutzeit was ambivalent when he spoke to French newspaper Le Monde on Tuesday. “We have yet to take a decision concerning the Olympic Games,” he said. “We are awaiting a final decision and to know if (the Russians and Belarusians) will be authorised to compete or not.” – AFP
