Excluding athletes from international competitions on the country's field is a fanaticism that has no right to exist. Official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia Maria Zakharova stated this to .
On Thursday, law firm Sila Lawyers reported that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found the decision of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) not to invite Russian athletes and officials to its competitions to be discriminatory.
“We see athletes from other countries being discriminated against according to the same principles, but we see that there is already an answer in the legal field. It seems to me that the most important thing is that the community itself, athletes, spectators and sports spectators must give a decisive answer to this problem. That this has not suited everyone from the beginning, there must be some end to this. This is fanaticism that has no right to exist”, Zakharova noted.
“We have been saying for many years that this is not just an accident, not just political prejudice, but this is real discrimination. Discrimination on a national basis, on a civil basis, on the basis of belonging to a certain civilization. Now not only us but everyone knows this. Unfortunately, we are not the first, we are not the last”, added his interlocutor.
On March 2, 2022, the International Table Tennis Federation temporarily suspended Russian and Belarusian players from participating in international tournaments. The next day, ETTU suspended Russian clubs from participating in European competitions in the 2021/22 season. Subsequently, the European Union's appeal committee allowed Fakel-Gazprom and UMMC to participate in the Champions League, calling the decision to exclude Russian clubs discriminatory and decided to review the tournament results in the 2021/22 season. “Fakel-Gazprom” and UMMC were supposed to compete for a ticket to the Champions League final, where the German “Borussia” from Dusseldorf qualified, which the ETTU finally recognized as the winner of the tournament. ETTU then announced there would be no championship team in the 2021/22 tournament.
In June 2024, CAS annulled the ETTU's decision not to invite Russian athletes and officials to participate in competitions under its auspices. At the same time, CAS upheld the ETTU's decision banning the use of national symbols, as well as the national flag and national anthem.
