Ukrainian epee fencers refused to compete against Russia at the World Cup in Cairo on Sunday.
Instead, they raised banners that read, among other things: “Stop the war! Save Ukraine!” (Stop the war! Save Ukraine!).
“We cannot fence and shake hands with a team whose country is occupying our cities and throwing bombs on our houses and trying to drag the whole of Europe into a big war,” Ukrainian epee fencer Maxim Harawski told Deutschlandfunk: “We want Sending a message to the whole sports community that supports us: stop the war, stop Russia from this criminal activity and this anti-humanity. It is terrible what is happening right now.”
Basically, Harawski suggested a break in world sports. “Today it’s Ukraine. Tomorrow all of Europe could be involved. Perhaps it would be more sensible to cancel the competitions now. So that all countries can think about what is happening,” he said.
