Representatives of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) have banned Ukrainian fencers from organising anti-Russian rallies at the World Fencing Cup in Nanjing, China. During the competition, the Ukrainians wanted to hang a banner "Angels of Sport", showing how many Ukrainian athletes had been killed by Russia, but FIE officials did not allow them to do so.

"We also had stickers on our masks stating that we disagreed with the FIE's decision, which we also distributed to all the athletes in solidarity with us. We were also asked to remove them. Before each fight, the judges carefully checked whether we had done so. We also always had security guards and competition organisers by our side," Suspilne.Sport quoted Vlada Kharkova, a representative of the Ukrainian national team, as saying.

After the competition, the Ukrainian women in the lobby of the hall wanted to take a picture with the poster themselves. At that time, Chinese FIE employees began to take the banner away by force. Our girls were forced to abandon the idea and return to the hotel.

"Now let me ask you: how can you play sports when some 343 sports facilities have been destroyed and more than 250 athletes will never compete again? Russia is violating all Olympic values. The FIE is trying to hide the truth with threats and restrictions, trying to keep us silent, but how is this different from Russia's political strategy?" - another Ukrainian fencer Daria Varfolomeeva wrote on Facebook.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, on March 10, the International Fencing Federation decided to cancel the suspension of athletes from Russia and Belarus from competitions under the auspices of the organisation.

After that, Ukrainian fencers and technical specialists decided that they would not participate in tournaments where athletes from the Russian Federation and Belarus were going to compete.

Germany reacted by refusing to host the World Fencing Cup because of Russia's participation. Later, Finland joined in.

For its part, the FIE banned Ukrainian symbols at the Grand Prix in South Korea, forbidding support for our country.

Only verified information in our Telegram channel Obozrevatel and in Viber.Do not be fooled by fakes!