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FIB hopes new IOC president will help Russian teams return to international tournaments

The IOC’s tenth president will be elected at an upcoming session scheduled to be held in Greece in March 2025

MOSCOW, January 5. /TASS/. Vice President and acting Secretary General of the Federation of International Bandy (FIB) Atilla Adamfi said a new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will hopefully help Russian and Belarusian teams take part in international bandy tournaments.

In March 2023, the IOC issued recommendations, advising international sports federations to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international tournaments as individual neutral athletes only. At that, the IOC recommended banning Russian and Belarusian teams from competing.

"I would be happy to welcome Russia and Belarus back to the international field, however until the IOC does not change its approach to team sports, there is nothing we can do," Adamfi told TASS. "I hope the war will be ended soon, also there will be a new IOC President elected in March that will change the geopolitical situation and Russian and Belorussian teams can return to international sports," he said.

The IOC’s tenth president will be elected at an upcoming session scheduled to be held in Greece in March 2025, and the term of office of the newly elected IOC president will start in June. Current IOC President Thomas Bach announced his decision last August that he had no intentions of running for another presidential term in the world’s governing Olympic body.

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