International Federation apologises "deeply" to Russia after stripping it of World Cup gold

The International Judo Federation (IJF) has called the decision of the judges in the World Championship final, in which Russian Inal Tasoev lost to legendary Frenchman Teddy Riner, a mistake. The organisation acknowledged that the arbitrators did not notice the effective action of the representative of the aggressor country and gave the victory to his opponent.

This is stated in the IJF statement published on the organisation's official website. The statement "deeply apologises" to the Russians for the situation, but it is no longer possible to review the results of the fight at the tournament in Doha, Qatar, and Tasoev will remain with the silver medal.

"Riner's attack was first blocked and then parried by Tasoev. However, the judges decided to continue the fight without awarding points. After the competition, taking into account the current rules of refereeing and the opinion of experts, the IJF concluded that a score for Tasoev's counterattack could have been awarded. The IJF Judicial Commission deeply apologises for this decision and informs that such actions will be assessed in accordance with the current judo rules in the future," the federation said in a statement.

It is worth noting that the IJF was one of the organisations that allowed the aggressors to participate in its competitions. The federation explained this step by "protecting the lives of people on both sides".

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Russian fans who wore St George's ribbons were kicked out of the competition at the World Judo Championships. Olympic champion Svetlana Zhurova, asking "how long will the world tolerate this?", saw this incident as a provocation by Ukraine.

Only verified information is available in our Obozrevatel Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!