Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that former Red Wings defenseman and current Russian Parliament member Slava Fetisov is suing the International Ice Hockey Federation for their decision to ban Russia and Belarus from international competition:
Fetisov also can’t see his national team in action. The IIHF has placed a ban on Russian involvement in international tournaments. This is also a result of the country’s attack on Ukraine.
Naturally, Fetisov isn’t supportive of this decision.
“The Russian team is always the draw of the World [Championship],” Fetisov told Russian TV program RBC Sport. “It is outrageous that the team with the most victories is missing from international tournaments.”
Fetisov previously served as head of the Russian Sport Federation. He is of the belief that any world hockey tourney minus the Russian national team is a decision on par with leaving the USA out of Olympic basketball, or Brazil and Germany out of soccer’s World Cup. It’s a move that lessens the caliber of the event.
He’s also of the opinion that allowing the political climate to influence the sporting world is a backwards philosophy. In the past he notes, sport has often proven to be a vehicle for breaking down cultural and political differences between nations.
“It is a reduction in quality and all the principles on which world sport was built,” Fetisov said. “I think it’s totally on purpose.
“It is necessary to reach a decision on the return of our players to the international stage or to abolish the sport as an international organization and create another, political organization. Then everything will be clear.”
Continued; why yes, it’s totally on purpose, and I agree with the IIHF in this situation.
