(Reuters) – The Olympic Fencing Club of Bonn has called off its annual World Cup men’s foil event, the second event in Germany to be cancelled after the sport’s global governing body (FIE) reversed a ban on athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus.
Athletes from the two countries were banned from many international competitions after Russia launched what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
However, the FIE in March cleared fencers from Russia and Belarus to return to international events just before 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers began.
The Olympic Fencing Club of Bonn’s president Gudrun Nettersheim told Sueddeutsche Zeitung that “a World Cup with Russian fencers would simply be unthinkable”.
“This is a decision we have taken because there is an inhuman war going on. And we made it for all the athletes in the club.”
A spokesperson for Germany’s fencing federation (DFB) confirmed to Reuters that the event in Bonn, which was scheduled for Nov. 10-12, has been called off.
The DFB also cancelled an event in Tauberbischofsheim.
The FIE’s decision to readmit Russians and Belarusians has prompted Ukraine’s fencing federation (NFFU) to say it would boycott all events in which fencers from the two countries were included, while hundreds of fencers publicly stated their opposition in an open letter.
The NFFU has also filed an appeal against the FIE’s decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Denmark, Norway and Poland have cancelled international events, while Norway has said its fencers will not participate in events where Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)
