Finnish boxers are in a difficult situation, according to Jenni Karjalainen, vice president of the Boxing Association.
The Finnish Boxing Federation will not send a team to the Women’s World Championships in India in March. The decision was made on Thursday.
– He is not sending, confirmed the vice president of the union Jenni Karjalainen.
In recent days, there has been information to the contrary. At the beginning of the week, it was reported that Finland was sending a team and this was widely criticized. There will probably be Russian and Belarusian athletes at the World Boxing Championships. They can also represent their country and do not have to have the status of “neutral athletes”.
Karjalainen admits that communication has failed. He emphasizes that the alliance fully condemns Russia’s war of aggression.
– The government was not planning to end the boycott, but an attempt was made to make a decision that would enable athletes to play sports and aim for Olympic places.
Boxers are in a difficult situation because the president of the International Boxing Federation IBA is a Russian Umar Kremlevwho is known for his close relationships to Vladimir Putin.
– International sports federations are required to exclude Russians, but the positions have not identified a situation where Russians have a strong position in the international sports federation. Karelian stated.
– As early as last year, there started to be situations where we are going to international competitions and it is not known if there will be Russians. Until the last moment, we had to worry about whether we could go to the Games.
According to Karjalainen, the good intention of the union was to remove the absolute ban on participation, but the communication failed and no reasons were made public.
– It is difficult for many young athletes to understand whether they have to stay in Finland until the war ends, whether they will not get international competition experience at all, Karjalainen described.
The Boxing Federation is now having discussions with the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Olympic Committee to ensure that the revised position of the federation is consistent with the policies of the government.
We have to think about, for example, whether it is possible to participate in international competitions and give a forfeit win if a Russian comes along. The same is planned in Sweden. Karjalainen believes that similar considerations need to be made in other sports as well.