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“Due to security concerns that are beyond the control of the IIHF, the IIHF Council decided today that the decision to withdraw the Minsk Ice Hockey World Championship is unavoidable,” writes the IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation in a statement. This was the conclusion reached after intensive investigations.
IIHF officials have also found a paragraph in their regulations that allows an organizer to withdraw the World Cup if there are “reasons for concern that the welfare and safe freedom of movement of players, officials, traveling fans and representatives of the media are in question. “to be.
The IIHF cites the growing political unrest in Belarus and Covid-19 as reasons. It is not mentioned that three sponsors of the World Cup threatened to withdraw if the World Cup was held in Belarus.
“It is a very regrettable thing to have to eliminate the Minsk / Riga co-hosts,” IIHF President René Fasel is quoted as saying. He visited the dictator Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk last week and gave him a warm hug, causing great misunderstanding.
The IIHF will now examine Latvia’s status as an organizer. Denmark or Slovakia have come into play as possible alternatives to the World Cup in recent days. (Mr)
