HONG KONG, China — Russian
President
Vladimir Putin had his honorary black belt in taekwondo revoked by
the sport's international governing body on Tuesday, over his country's
invasion of Ukraine.
اضافة اعلان
As Russian troops amass outside
Kyiv, and hundreds of thousands of
Ukrainian refugees flee into neighboring
countries, world leaders have heaped punishing economic sanctions on Putin and
his closest allies, as well as Russian-linked businesses.
The sporting world has had a similar
reaction: Russia was booted out of qualifying for this year's football World
Cup, and the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged federations to
exclude athletes from Russia, as well as from its ally Belarus.
World Taekwondo, which governs
international federations for the sport, was the latest to condemn Putin,
saying Tuesday that Moscow's actions went against the sport's vision:
"Peace is more precious than triumph."
"In this regard,
World Taekwondo has decided to withdraw the honorary 9th dan black belt conferred to
Vladimir Putin in November 2013," the Seoul-based body said in an official
statement.
It added that official taekwondo
events would not be organized in Russia or
Belarus.
In line with the IOC's urging, the
flags and anthems of both countries will also not be displayed or played at
taekwondo events around the world.
"World Taekwondo's thoughts are
with the people of
Ukraine and we hope for a peaceful and immediate end to this
war," it said.
Putin does not actually do
taekwondo, but is instead accomplished in judo, another martial art, and has
long served as an honorary president to the International Judo Federation.
On Sunday the
IJF suspended his
status as honorary president and ambassador to the sport.
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