The International Wrestling Federation demands that athletes from Russia and Belarus get to Tampere for the World Junior Championships. Otherwise, there is a risk of losing the giant games. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot promise visas.
In October, Tampere should organize the biggest event of Finnish wrestling since the men’s World Championships in 1994, when no fewer than a thousand athletes and other team members are expected to attend the under-23 World Championships in Hakametsä.
A few months before the Games, a black cloud has hung over the event: Russia and Belarus. President of the International Wrestling Federation UWW Nenad Lalovic sent on Tuesday to the president of the Finnish Federation For Pekka Paavola a message in which Finland is required, at the risk of losing the games, to ensure that wrestlers representing Russia and Belarus and other members of the teams also get to participate.
This means, above all, that these persons should get a visa to Finland, which is not an unheard of thing due to the Ukraine war started by Russia in February 2022 and supported by Belarus.
– This must be taken very seriously. UWW gave us until Wednesday of next week to respond. But the Wrestling Federation is not the entity that can give guarantees about visas, let alone grant them, says the executive director of the federation Pasi Sarkkinen.
Cold line in Spain
UWW became active in the direction of Finland, because Spain, which organizes the European Championships for under-20s, did not agree to issue visas to Russians and Belarusians. Thanks to that, Ukraine agreed to participate in the Games. Ukraine will definitely be left out of Tampere if Finland puts its war enemies on the ground.
The crux of the problem is that the UWW, which operates under strong Russian influence and money, decided earlier this year to release Russian and Belarusian wrestlers to international competitions as neutral athletes without national symbols. According to Sarkkinen, UWW examines each individual separately, and for example, public expressions of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine can prevent competition.
– Russia’s massive influence in wrestling is no secret. If the UWW had taken the same categorical line towards Russians and Belarusians as most international sports federations, there would not be any kind of threat over the Tampere Games now, says Sarkkinen.
Only two of the members of the UWW’s 7-member executive board are Russian.
Professional or amateur?
Consular Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jussi Tanner commented on the visa issue to Urheilu on Thursday at a general level. At UM, he has been a person consulted by Painiliitto.
– Of course, I can’t predict how the process will turn out. Each applicant receives individual and fair treatment. Collectively, these issues are not dealt with.
Last fall, Tampere saw NHL hockey, when the Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets played in Nokia Areena. Russian players were also cooling off on the ice at that time.
– According to the Government’s currently valid decision in principle, professional sports that require a short-term stay in the country can be considered a basis for issuing a visa, Tanner says.
On the other hand, amateur sports is not a basis for this kind of award. In the visa consideration, it now becomes a weighty consideration whether the value competitions for young people in wrestling are amateur or professional sports. The fact that Russians and Belarusians would play sports in Tampere as neutral wrestlers without national emblems does not mean anything.
– It has no weight in the visa process, Tanner says.
The Tampere Games are a huge effort for the Wrestling Association and the Tampere clubs and the city. The games were supposed to be held in the city as early as 2020, but the corona pandemic got in the way.
The worst case scenario is missing the entire World Cup event. In its letter to the Finnish Federation, UWW did not say where it would move the games in the event that Russians and Belarusians could not get to Finland.
– I don’t know anything about their possible backup plan, Sarkkinen says.
The absence of Russia and Belarus would mean that the number of accredited persons for the Games would decrease by about a hundred.
– At worst, the process drags on and crashes so that Ukraine is also left out. Then we would already be talking about a really large number of people left out, when you take into account, for example, the accommodation reservations we made.
Finland has great expectations from the Games, because Tino Ojala and Jonni Sarkkinen won the EC gold in the Greco-Roman wrestling format in the same age group last March.