The German Fencing Federation (DFEB) announced on Thursday that it was withdrawing from the Women’s Rapier World Cup after the International Fencing Federation (FIE) decided to reinstate athletes from Russia and Belarus in the competition, AFP reported.

Germany refused to organize the world championship in rapier

The stage was scheduled for the beginning of May and was supposed to take place in Tauberbischofsheim (central Germany).

The FIE made the decision on March 10, given that the qualification period for the 2024 Paris Olympics starts next month.

The decision applies to individual and team competitions and will take effect from April 2023 “subject to possible future recommendations/decisions of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)”.

The stage in Tauberbischofsheim “should have been one of the first in which this decision was applied”, explained the president of the German Federation, former fencer Claudia Boeckel, the Olympic vice-champion in the team competition in 2004.

The DFEB respects the FIE’s decision but wants to “send a clear signal”.

“We would have preferred a different outcome and, in our view, there remain many open questions regarding the implementation of the decision, which make it impossible for the tournament to take place.” Claudia Bockel explained.

After Poznań (Poland), Tauberbischofsheim was to host the second of the five women’s competitions of the Rapier World Cup, which count towards the qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris, writes Agerpres.