GENEVA, October 14. /TASS/. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected the appeal lodged by the Israeli Gymnastics Federation (IGF) regarding its statement on the exclusion of its athletes from the World Championships, with two petitions for provisional measures also denied, the CAS press service reported.

Earlier, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Penitentiary Affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra announced that Israeli athletes would not receive visas to participate in the tournament scheduled for October 19-25 in Jakarta. The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said that it had "taken note" of Indonesia’s stance. In its appeal, the IGF stated that the FIG statutes require their executive committee to make a decision when entry visas are not granted to all delegations. They further argued that the leak of a decision constitutes a denial of justice, thus creating discriminatory conditions for a member association.

A second appeal was filed by six Israeli athletes, demanding that CAS compel the FIG to "take the necessary measures that guarantee Israeli participation in the championships, or in the alternative, to move or to cancel the championships." The FIG stressed that it does not have the authority to influence the issuance of entry visas by Indonesia, which means the decision by Indonesian authorities falls entirely outside FIG’s jurisdiction.

"The requests for urgent provisional measures were considered by the deputy president of the CAS Appeals Arbitration Division. Both requests have been rejected," CAS said in a statement, noting that the first appeal will be closed due to a lack of jurisdiction, while the second appeal is still under review.