A scandal erupted in Russia following its loss to Ukraine at the World Cup
The Russian national fencing team reacted strongly to its poor performance at the World Championships in Hong Kong, especially after the loss to Ukraine in the women’s team sabre event. After the tournament ended, members of the Russian team began to speak openly about serious problems and a crisis in national fencing.
Representatives of the Russian side cited the team’s unsatisfactory results and complained about the consequences of the international suspension of athletes. The defeat by the Ukrainian team became one of the most painful topics for Russian athletes and officials.
The federation president called the situation “tragic”
Ilgar Mamedov, president of the Russian Fencing Federation, sharply criticized his team’s performance, which yielded only one medal at the world championships. Despite Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the Russian team was allowed to compete in the world championships under its national flag and to the national anthem.
In a comment to the Russian propaganda agency TASS, Mamedov stated that the national team has significantly lost its competitiveness in recent years. According to him, for the first time in seven years, he personally witnessed the true state of affairs and was shocked by the team’s level of performance.
“We’ve become weak—very weak. In five years, we’ve weakened not fivefold, but fiftyfold. We’re practically uncompetitive in all disciplines,” the official lamented.
Mamedov also stated that the Russians could have counted on at least three medals, but all those chances were lost. That is why he described the current state of Russian fencing as a “tragic situation
.” This was reported by Russian propaganda media.
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