German team is still going to the World Cup

It’s about the Olympic qualification in judo

Russians are there: German team is still going to the World Cup

05/04/2023 20:09

Ukraine is boycotting the world judo championships because Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to take part in the tournament in Qatar. The German Judo Federation criticizes the permission, but also travels. It is also about qualifying for the Olympic Games.

The German Judo Federation (DJB) has criticized the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the World Championships in Doha/Qatar (May 7-14), but will not join the boycott of the Ukrainian federation. “The political dimension of this World Cup should not be carried out on the backs of the athletes,” said the DJB: “The world leaders are close together and every qualifying point (for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris; editor’s note) is extremely important. “

In its justification, the DJB referred to acting “in accordance with the line of the Federal Ministry of the Interior”, which prohibits the start of German athletes even if Russian and Belarusian athletes participate, “in order to avoid disadvantages in the qualification phase for the Olympic Games”. support financially

However, against the background of the “clear war situation with the aggressor Russia and the difficult examination of the positioning of Russian and Belarusian athletes with regard to the Russian invasion (…) the German Association emphasized a different decision by the International Olympic Committee and later by the International Judo Federation as Signs against this war of aggression, which the DJB condemned in the strongest possible terms.”

Last Sunday, the International Judo Federation (IJF) gave the judoka from Russia and Belarus the green light to start the World Championships, on condition that they compete as neutral individual athletes and pass a background check. In response to conditional admission following the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in March, the Ukrainian Judo Federation withdrew its team from the World Championships last Monday. Just a day later, eight members of the Russian delegation were banned from the World Cup after background checks by the IJF. The IJF initially gave no information about how many activists were among the excluded.

The German World Cup team with nine male and ten male athletes traveled to Doha on Thursday – but without Olympic silver medalist Eduard Trippel, who had a knee injury, and former world champion Anna Maria Wagner (shoulder).