Three Russian athletes will compete in the US Fencing Championships, which began on July 1. These are four-time world junior champion Konstantin Lokhanov, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Sergey Bida and Spartakiad 2022 silver medalist Oleg Knysh.
The position of the leadership of the Russian Fencing Federation is that the athletes fled. But is everything so clear? And how are things in the fencing world right now?
How was the performance of the Russians at the US championships possible?
For starters, each of the three “runaway” athletes has lived in the United States for a long time. In April, the leaders of the fencing federation of this country decided to allow the Russians to participate in the American championship in a neutral state, subject to at least one of the two selection criteria.
Photo source: CSKA
First, they should publicly condemn Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. In this case, everything else loses its meaning and the Russian athlete can participate in the US Championship. The second criterion is that the fencers must not have had an FIE license for the last three years, which would indicate their nationality. An exception is a license, according to which the transfer of an athlete from Russia to another country is approved. That is, when he changed the sports citizenship from the Russian to another.
And a prerequisite for all entrants to the US Fencing Championship is to exclude any attribute, be it equipment or equipment that may be associated with Russia.
Russian fencers can compete in international tournaments, but not all
The admission of Russians to participate in international tournaments was also approved by the International Fencing Federation. Of course, we are talking about the neutral status of athletes, and not all representatives of Russia are allowed to go anywhere. For example, six of our shooters were admitted to the European Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in mid-June, but only five of them made it. Saber fencer Valeria Kobzeva was blocked at the last moment, as a complaint was received against her from the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
Photo source: social network Valeria Kobzeva
All Russians admitted to participate in the European Championship are not even close to being among the best fencers in our country. It is not surprising that in the end none of them could get past the 1/16 final of the tournament. But our stars, like Sofia the Great, Yana Yegoryan and Sofia Pozdnyakova, are not allowed to participate in international tournaments. There are suspicions that they, like other prominent Russian fencers, will not be allowed to compete in major competitions for the foreseeable future.
“Guilty” has already been found
One of the participants in the US Championship, Konstantin Lokhanov, is the husband of Sofya Pozdnyakova, who has already announced the start of divorce proceedings and his desire to regain his maiden name. In an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, he noted that her husband fled to the United States, which Sophia herself did not want to do.
Photo source: RIA Novosti
The leadership of the Russian Fencing Federation also uses precisely such terms and is already punishing the guilty.
“Due to the flight of Alexander Glazunov’s wards to the United States without the consent of the federation, including the current National Guard officer Bida and the current military man Khrapina, the head coach of Russian épée fencers will be relieved of his post. The relevant documents have already been sent to the Sports Training Center,” says the official statement cited by TASS.
Photo source: RIA Novosti
From this statement, it is clear that there are even more fugitives in the United States than three athletes. After all, here we are also talking about Violetta Khrapina. Is the coach to blame for the athletes’ flight, or did the Federation simply decide to find a scapegoat? It is difficult to judge this, but the fact of the mass exodus of Russian fencers to the United States is undeniable. And something has to be done about it!
