After admitting Russian and Belarusian athletes to the World Judo Championships in Qatar (May 7-14, 2023), Ukraine withdrew its entire team from the competitions.
The reason given by the Ukrainian Judo Association in a statement on Monday (05/01/2023) is that “the majority of (Russian; ed.) teams of athletes actively serving in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and part of the army that attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022″.
see “No neutrality here, equal terms and a ‘bridge to peace’ as stated in the IJF resolution on the participation of Russian and Belarusian teams in the World Championships in Doha”.
Neutrality according to Ukraine not given
The world association IJF had given judoka from Russia and Belarus the green light to start on Sunday, on condition that they compete as neutral individual athletes. Ukraine sharply criticized this point.
You see a decision here “which contradicts the recent International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommendation of March 28, in which the IOC says that neutral athlete status can only be granted to those athletes who are not members of the military”.