World Sailing extends suspension of Belarusian and Russian officials

An independent panel set up by the board of World Sailing has decided to extend the suspension of Belarusian and Russian officials from holding committee positions or participating in competitions.

“The independent panel accepts that it would have been clearly evident to those voting that they were being invited to do so in the context of the conflict occasioned by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and that the actions of both Russia and Belarus were, in the view of World Sailing, ‘so objectionable and potentially prejudicial to the values, best interests and/or reputation of World Sailing that temporary suspension of those countries’ representatives was warranted’,” the independent panel said.

Since March, officials and athletes from Belarus and Russia have been barred from participating in World Sailing events - a decision made in direct response to the conflict in Ukraine.

The eight members petitioning for appeals were: Ermakova of Russia has been temporarily suspended along with Yana Dobzhitskaya, Natalia Chubenko, Anna Deyanova, Pavel Sobolev, Anastasia Maletina, Natalia Kurbatova Lueders and Polina Golovina.

The Board stated they will continue to review the situation on a quarterly basis.

Following the decision, Lorenz Walch, submitted an appeal to the World Sailing Judicial Board. Walch, who is petitioning for the affected members’ reinstatement claimed there was insufficient information within the voting forms for the panel to make an informed ruling.

World Sailing disagreed and claimed Walch had “fundamentally misunderstood” the rationale of the suspension, rejecting his claim that the impact on the officials was “bigger than the damage” to World Sailing.

The independent panel of World Sailing maintained that the organization followed proper procedures when it decided to suspend the athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus - also ruling that the punitive grounds of appeal lacked merit.