Refusing to shake hands with her Russian opponent, the Ukrainian Olympic fencing champion is expelled from the World Cup (Video)

Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan has been disqualified after refusing to shake hands with Russian opponent Ana Smirnova at the World Fencing Championships in Milan on Thursday.

Kharlan, a four-time Olympic medalist and world champion, won the individual match 15:7 and then did not shake hands with her opponent, but wanted to greet her with a clatter of swords.

Smirnova remained on stage for about half an hour after the incident, talking to a number of officials before leaving.

Ukrainian athletes in other sports – including tennis players Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk – have also refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Belarus is a supporter of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In the rules of the sport of fencing, hand-to-hand greeting between opponents is mandatory and refusal to do so results in a "black card".

"Black card" means exclusion from competitions.

" We fully support Olga Kharlan in this situation. We are preparing a protest ," said Mzkhailo Ilyashev, president of the Ukrainian Fencing Federation.

" We will appeal against this decision, because the referee of that match did not give a black card directly, nor did he disqualify him. This disqualification came later from behind-the-scenes games, after the next opponent was set, and after the referee for the next match was set ," he added.

The Minister of Sports of Ukraine, Vadim Hutsait, has described this incident as "a clear provocation from the Russian side".

Kharlan was representing Ukraine at the tournament after Ukraine's sports minister decided on Wednesday to allow Ukrainian teams to participate in Olympic, non-Olympic and Paralympic competitions that also include competitors from Russia and Belarus.

Smirnova was competing as a neutral athlete.

The World Fencing Federation has not responded to Reuters for comments regarding this incident./REL

olga kharlan lojtarja ukrainase e skermës ana smirnova

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