Doha (AFP) - The World Judo Championships, which open in Doha on Sunday, will be the first major international competition to welcome back Russian and Belarusian athletes, who have been excluded from most sporting events since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ukrainian athletes will be absent, however, after boycotting the event when the International Judo Federation (IJF) gave the green light for the reinstatement of Russians and Belarusians on the condition that they do so individually and as neutral athletes.
That decision followed a recommendation of the International Olympic Committee but provoked the anger of the Ukrainian federation who claimed that some of the judokas are also active soldiers in the Russian army.
"I think it is unacceptable to allow soldiers from a terrorist country that kills Ukrainians every day to take part in international competitions," said Daria Bilodid, the 2019 world champion in the 48-kilogram category and bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, on Instagram.
Other countries, such as the Czech Republic and Poland, also criticised the reinstatement of the Russians, but decided to take part in the championships anyway.
"We cannot punish our athletes who have been preparing for a long time," said the head of the Polish federation Jacek Zawadka, quoted by the Polish news agency PAP.
This week the IJF duly barred eight members of the Russian contingent after commissioning "independent background checks on the athletes and delegates to ensure both their place of employment and any social media interactions regarding pro-war propaganda".
Only athletes "employed at the Federal Training Sport Center" and athletes "for whom no information has been identified suggesting support for or views on the Russian invasion of Ukraine" are being allowed to participate, the body said.
In September 2022, judo was one of the last sports to exclude Russians and Belarussians from its competitions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was honorary president and international ambassador of the IJF from 2008 until he was suspended from the post in 2022.
The IOC last month recommended allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus, who have been banned from international competition, to compete as individual neutrals.
IOC president Thomas Bach said the ban would continue to apply to Russian and Belarusian "athletes who actively support the war" as well as "athletes who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies".
While the IOC said Russians and Belarusians should be allowed to compete in Olympic qualifying as neutrals it is yet to make a decision on participation at next year's Games in Paris.
