"Safety must come first"
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) deprived Belarus of the right to host the 2021 World Championship, which Minsk and Riga were planning to host.
This decision was made at a meeting of the organization's council.
The main reason cited are concerns about the safety and freedom of movement of all tournament participants.
“The IIHF Council conducted a fair and objective review, in which independent experts and all stakeholders were interviewed as to whether Belarus is capable of hosting the 2021 World Cup, given the growing security concerns about both political instability and COVID. 19 ", - said in the message of the press service of the federation.
It is also noted that in the near future the question will be resolved as to whether there will be a replacement for Minsk or Riga will remain the sole host of the World Cup.
However, according to media reports, the second option is most likely, since Latvia has already submitted a corresponding application.
The president of the local ice hockey federation Aigars Kalvitis expressed his readiness to host the tournament on his own.
At the same time, Slovak Bratislava and Danish Herning proposed their candidacies earlier.
It is assumed that a lot will depend on the format, which may be shortened due to the pandemic.
In addition, a discussion will take place whether Belarus will be able to qualify for hosting the World Cup in the future.
The international federation stressed that this will depend on the political situation in the country.
IIHF President Rene Fasel expressed his regret over the current situation.
“Realizing that the World Cup should not be used for political purposes by either side, the Council nevertheless considers it inappropriate to hold the tournament in Minsk as long as there are more serious problems there, and the safety of teams, spectators and officials should come first,” - said Fasel.
The IIHF's decision has already been supported not only in Latvia, but also in Finland and Sweden.
It should be noted that these states were among those who called on the international organization to deprive Belarus of the right to host the World Cup due to the political situation after the presidential elections in 2020.
The European Parliament even organized a collection of signatures in support of the transfer, and some countries even declared their readiness to boycott the competition.
At the same time, the IIHF initially stated that they did not intend to change the hosts of the tournament and sharply denied numerous rumors that another country would accept it.
The question arose more acutely after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) imposed temporary sanctions on the Belarusian Olympic Committee, which includes the head of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Federation Dmitry Baskov, in December.
It soon became known that the fate of the tournament would be decided after a personal meeting between Fazel and Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk in mid-January.
As the head of the IIHF later reported on its results, during the conversation organizational issues were discussed, but attention was also paid to politics.
The organization intended to soften the degree of tension, but the political situation in Belarus did not allow it to be done.
After the meeting, even more pressure began to be exerted on Fasel, as it was assumed that he was pulling with the cancellation due to personal gain.
The last straw was the refusal of several key sponsors - Nivea, Skoda and Liqui Moly - to finance the competition if they are held in Minsk.
At the moment, the Belarusian side has not commented in any way on the postponement of the World Cup, as it expects clarification from the IIHF on some issues.
"Dead end road in sports"
The matches of the Russian national team in the group stage were supposed to be held in Minsk.
The Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR) said they would take any decision of the IIHF regarding the venue of the tournament.
“We have nothing to do with this, this is not our territory.
We will be told that the world championship will be in Bratislava, Latvia or somewhere else.
We'll say, "Okay, let's go where the IIHF determines."
In this regard, we fully support her ", - quotes the representative of the FHR TASS.
At the same time, the incident caused a flurry of criticism in Russia.
Former head coach of the national team Vyacheslav Bykov compared the current situation with accusations of doping, when politics comes to the fore and decisions are made based on the benefits of individual parties.
“They think they will win ... No way!
We will still sing "Kalinka" and promote our best sports principles for the development of sports!
I don't even know what to call them ... For me, these are not even personalities, but individuals.
They are beginning to introduce their dirty hands into sport, "Sport-Express quotes Bykov.
Honored Coach of Russia Vladimir Plyushchev noted that the decision to postpone the tournament was made under pressure from sponsors who “squeezed him out of IIHF like from a tube” and the organization found itself in a desperate situation.
In his opinion, due to their subjective position, other countries may also be under threat.
“There may be a situation when, before the World Championship among youth teams in Novosibirsk and Omsk, someone does not like the Siberian frosts.
And sponsors will refuse because of the weather.
There is sport, agreements with the same title sponsors were signed much earlier than all events, and they, in principle, must fulfill their obligations, "RIA Novosti quotes Plyushchev.
Alexander Kozhevnikov, two-time Olympic champion in the USSR national team, agrees with his opinion.
“Politics is a terrible thing.
It's too bad that all of this goes beyond such limits.
I am saying this to the fact that some Lithuanian politicians say that they would not go there.
I would like to ask them a question: would you go to the world championship in America, Germany or France?
One hundred percent would go, "Kozhevnikov told the Championship.
Honorary President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Alexander Zhukov noted that due to the cancellation of competitions in Belarus, hockey fans will be the first to suffer.
“The Olympic Charter says that sport is out of politics, at the UN General Assembly, before each Olympics, a special resolution is adopted.
Although there is a world championship here, it is obvious that the cancellation was due to political reasons.
If this continues, many competitions will be canceled.
This is a dead-end path in sports, ”Zhukov said.
The decision was also negatively assessed in the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
Deputy Igor Lebedev admitted that he was not surprised and urged to change the slogan of the Olympic movement to "Sports and politics are inseparable", and Dmitry Svishchev called the cancellation of the tournament a crime.
Three-time Olympic figure skating champion Irina Rodnina recalled that similar situations have repeatedly occurred in the history of sports.
“You know how many times we have applied to host the Olympics in Sochi.
Three times!
And here ... They just select the competition.
Of course, this is chaos ... But there is also another question: refusal of other countries to take part in this championship.
At one time, the Americans did not come to us either.
This is not the first time.
And when we say that sport is out of politics, and sport is for the sake of peace, then all this can be ignored, ”Rodnina complained.
In turn, ex-world boxing champion Nikolai Valuev emphasized that Russia should not make hasty conclusions and boycott the tournament.
“We need to assess the scale and act in a consolidated manner against this background.
We are not the only ones at the World Championship.
I understand that Canada even plays into its hands.
They do not care not only about the venue, but they will not oppose their own authorities, which are ahead of the rest of the world or following the United States, declare sanctions, ”Valuev said.