From BNN:
The Iraqi Fencing & Modern Pentathlon Federation recently decided to withdraw its team from the FIE Fencing World Championships in Milan due to a potential confrontation with Israeli players.This is not the first time the Iraqi team has made such a decision. The team also withdrew from individual races in a previous World Fencing Championship held in Istanbul for the same reason.Azhar Ali, the director of the Federation’s media, stated that the team’s withdrawal only applies to confrontations with Israel, and that the Iraqi players would continue to participate in other competitions. Ali also emphasized that the Iraqi Federation would not face any penalties due to the withdrawal, as it is in compliance with international regulations.
That last sentence does not seem to be true.
The official FIE regulations state:
t.113 Refusing to fence an opponent1 No fencer (individual or team) from an FIE member national federation may take part in an official competition if he refuses to fence against any other fencer whatsoever (individual or team) correctly entered in the event. Should this rule be broken, the penalties specified for offences of the 4th group will be applied (cf. t.158-162, t.169, t.170).
Offenses of the 4th group means a black card.
2 The FIE shall consider whether there are grounds, and to what extent, for taking sanctions against the national federation to which the disqualified competitor belongs (cf. FIE Statutes 1.2.4 and Rules Article t.170).Any black card awarded at a competition of the FIE or at a competition organized by any Confederation which has subscribed to the FIE disciplinary code shall be reported within 10 days to the President of the FIE, for him to assess whether the severity of the offence committed warrants the sending of the report made by the FIE supervisor or by the Directoire Technique to the president of the Legal Commission, requesting him to establish a Disciplinary Tribunal to determine if penalties in addition to those imposed at the competition should be imposed.
Given that the Iraqi team did the same thing in Istanbul a couple of months ago, if the FIE has any concern for the sport, it should expel any team that has clearly stated that they refuse to participate in these competitions against legal competitors.
