Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan turned into as soon as disqualified from the realm championships on Tuesday after refusing to shake hands along with her Russian opponent, Anna Smirnova, following their bout. Kharlan won the essential-spherical match, 15-7, but the Global Fencing Federation (FIE) did now not enable her to proceed within the match.
In line with NBC Sports, Kharlan walked in direction of Smirnova and held out her sabre at the cease of the bout. Smirnova reached out for a handshake, and the two stayed there for a second earlier than Kharlan walked away.
Smirova reportedly sat on the strip for forty five-50 minutes in grunt, which introduced about a prolong in competition. Finally, Kharlan turned into as soon as given a dim card for violating FIE rule t.122B, which says fencers must “salute and shake hands with their opponent” after a match.
Kharlan turned into as soon as the essential Ukrainian fencer to face a Russian or Belarusian opponent since Ukraine changed its protection that advisable athletes now not partake in events where athletes from those two international locations were allowed to compete. Ukraine’s protection now states that Ukrainian athletes might well perhaps trot against Russian and Belarusian opponents as lengthy as they are competing below a honest banner.
The absolute most realistic files for Kharlan is that, the very subsequent day, Global Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach guaranteed her a situation at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. Bach, who is a aged fencer, acknowledged he conception Kharlan turned into as soon as handled unfairly.
“As a fellow fencer, it’s miles inconceivable for me to think the style you are feeling at this second,” Bach acknowledged in a letter to Kharlan, per Yahoo Sports. “Given your uncommon field, the Global Olympic Committee will allocate a further quota space to you for the Olympic Video games Paris 2024 within the event you aren’t ready to qualify within the leisure duration.”
Along with the IOC’s resolution, FIE president Emmanuel Katsiadakis announced that the group turned into as soon as reinstating Kharlan and would enable her to compete along with her team at the realm championships.