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Russia’s fencing federation denies receiving requests from US to poach athletes

The media reported earlier that Russia’s Olympic silver medalist in fencing Sergey Bida was seeking to obtain American citizenship and to compete under the banner of Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. The Fencing Federation of Russia (FFR) has not received any appeals about its athletes suiting up for the national team of the United States, the FFR press office said in a statement to TASS on Friday.

"The legal procedure on changing national sports affiliation obliges an athletes’ national federation to approve the transfer of his or her previous [sports] citizenship," the statement reads.

"The Fencing Federation of Russia has received no requests of this kind up to this point from the USA Fencing Federation," the statement added.

The USA Today daily reported earlier that Russia’s Olympic silver medalist in fencing Sergey Bida was seeking to obtain American citizenship and to compete under the banner of Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in July-August in Paris.

Bida’s spouse, Violetta, told the newspaper in response to a question about whether she and her husband were seeking to represent the American team at the upcoming Olympics: "We are ready."

USA Today added that the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and the USA Fencing Federation had filed official requests with the US Congress to expedite the naturalization process to grant US citizenship to Sergey and Violetta Bida, as well as to another Russian fencer, Konstantin Lokhanov.

Bida, 30, is the silver medal winner of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in the epee team competition. He was also ranked the world’s top fencer in 2020 in addition to winning three European championship titles in epee fencing. His wife, Violetta Bida (maiden name Khrapina), is the silver medal winner of the 2019 World Fencing Championship in Budapest.

On March 10, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international competitions under a neutral status and in line with recommendations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Athletes from the countries in question should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status.

The FIE followed the IOC’s recommendations and did not issue neutral status permits to Russian fencers representing top Russian sports franchises CSKA and Dinamo. Only five Russian athletes took part in the 2023 European Fencing Championship in June of last year.

Paris is scheduled to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games between July 26 and August 11, 2024.

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