MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/: The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has confirmed that the 2022 Volleyball Men’s World Championship will be hosted by Russia regardless of WADA’s current sanctions against Russian sports, FIVB press office announced to TASS on Friday.
"The FIVB has confirmed that the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship 2022 will remain in Russia following the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) acknowledgement that it would be both legally and practically impossible to withdraw the event from Russia or reassign it to another country," the organization announced in a statement provided to TASS and later posted on its official website.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled on December 17, 2020 to partially uphold the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) lawsuit against the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) on sanctions in regard to Russian sports. Russia was in particular barred from hosting world championships as well as Olympic and Paralympic Games, in the course of two years. However, it was noted that the relocation of a scheduled tournament was possible only under certain circumstances.
"The FIVB had submitted to WADA a comprehensive report in light of the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) award in the arbitration procedure between WADA and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) on 17 December 2020," the statement added.
Commenting on the decision, FIVB President Ary Graca said: "The FIVB welcomes the acknowledgement of WADA that it is legally and practically impossible to remove the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship 2022 from Russia given how far advanced preparations are for this huge, multi-city event".
"The reasons for the decision include the sheer scale of the event, the significant financial investment from multiple parties, and the extensive preparations which have been underway since 2018, when Russia was selected to host the event," the FIVB president added.
About the tournament
Russia was selected to host the 2022 Volleyball Men’s World Championship at the FIVB Congress in November 2018. The Russian side’s bid offered ten different cities across the country as venues for the quadrennial championship.
The 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship is scheduled to be held between August 26 and September 11, 2022 in ten cities across the country, namely in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo and Yaroslavl.
The statement from the FIVB press office also stated today that: "The FIVB will continue to work together with WADA and the event organizers to ensure the implementation of the CAS award is compliant as it relates to the display of the Russian Federation flag, uniforms, national anthem and other relevant identifications across the various venues..."
"The FIVB maintains a zero-tolerance approach to doping and is, and always will be, fully committed to protecting clean athletes and clean sport," the statement added.
Sanctions against Russian sports
The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland’s Lausanne partially upheld on December 17, 2020 WADA’s (the World Anti-Doping Agency) previous ruling on a number of sanctions against Russian sports.
According to the CAS decision, Russian athletes were deprived of their right to participate in all World Championships, Olympic and Paralympic Games under the national flag of Russia for a two-year period.
The national anthem of Russia was also prohibited from being played at international sports tournaments over the course of the next two years, even at the upcoming Olympic Games in Japan this summer.
The ruling of the Swiss-based court also stripped Russia of the right to bid for the organization of all international sports tournaments for a period of two years. WADA’s sanctions will be in force until December 2022.
