Russia and Belarus prohibited from participating in international events

World Archery’s executive board has approved a further round of sanctions on Russia and Belarus, which comply with the latest recommendations from the International Olympic Committee, in response to the crisis in Ukraine.

These new sanctions are in addition to the previous statement and initial sanctions, which were announced following Russia’s breaking of the Olympic Truce.

As of 2 March 2022, no athlete, team official or technical official from Russia or Belarus will be permitted to participate in any international archery event until further notice.

This includes any tournament that offers world ranking points, qualifying events, events run by major organisations, and any competition for which World Archery or World Archery Europe is the ruling body or responsible for appointing technical officials.

The term technical official includes judges and classifiers.

Russia and Belarus also remain prohibited from bidding for or hosting international events. Neither World Archery nor World Archery Europe had upcoming events scheduled in either country.

In compliance with the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee, which hosted a meeting of the presidents of all international sports federations on Tuesday, neither the archery federations of Russia and Belarus nor elected officers from either country will be suspended as they are not directly implicated in the breaking of the Olympic Truce.

World Archery has issued the following statement alongside the sanctions:

“World Archery reiterates its position that there is no place in this world for war or violence. Sport is a celebration of peace, friendship and the Olympic values.”

“World Archery has no desire to penalise any athlete or official who shares these values but must prioritise the integrity of competition, and the fairness in access to competition, as part of sport’s united response to the current crisis in Ukraine.”

“World Archery hopes that the unified calls for peace, from people of all nationalities, will quickly bring this crisis to an end.”

Further decisions will be taken by the World Archery executive board as and when they become necessary.

World Archery will work with the International Olympic Committee, Ukrainian Olympic Committee and Ukrainian Archery Federation to support athletes, and continue to provide humanitarian aid to the members of the community affected by the crisis where possible.