World Fencing Championships: Ukraine's Olga Kharlan disqualified for refusing Russian Anna Smirnov's handshake

Ukraine's Olga Kharlan offered her sabre erstwhile Russian Anna Smirnova approached for a handshake

Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan has been disqualified for refusing to shingle hands with Russian Anna Smirnova astatine the World Fencing Championships.

The 32-year-old rejected Smirnova's handshake afterwards, alternatively offering her sabre to pat blades.

It led to an entreaty from Smirnova, who staged a 45-minute sit-down protest.

The Russian, competing nether a neutral flag, remained stood connected the piste pursuing the first-round contention earlier being handed a seat arsenic her protestation continued.

Her entreaty looked to person been dismissed, with Kharlan inactive showing arsenic done to the past 32 erstwhile Smirnova yet walked disconnected aft being spoken to by an official, allowing the adjacent bout to start.

However, the results aboriginal showed that Kharlan, a four-time idiosyncratic satellite champion and four-time Olympic medallist, had been disqualified from the women's sabre individual.

Anna Smirnova refused to permission the piste and was handed a seat arsenic her protestation continued

In fencing, shaking hands is portion of the rules of the athletics and refusal to bash truthful results successful a achromatic paper and expulsion.

Kharlan's scheduled last-32 opponent, Bulgaria's Yoanna Ilieva, precocious arsenic a result.

Ukrainian fencers person not competed wherever rivals from Russia and Belarus person been permitted to participate arsenic neutral athletes since Russia's penetration successful February 2022.

However, the Ukrainian authorities updated its presumption connected Wednesday, granting support for its athletes to vie against Russians and Belarusians who enactment arsenic neutrals, arsenic is the lawsuit astatine the World Fencing Championships.

Mykhailo Podolyak, the advisor to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, shared a photograph which appeared to amusement Anna Smirnova with a Russian worker on his Twitter.

"The photograph features Anna Smirnova, the Russian fencer who Ukrainian Olga Kharlan refused to shingle hands with astatine the World Championships aft winning a just bout," Podolyak said.

"As you tin see, she openly admires the Russian army, which is sidesplitting Ukrainians and destroying our cities. The International Fencing Federation (FIE) disqualified the Ukrainian typical for not shaking hands with the Russian," helium added.

"FIE should this beryllium taken arsenic a position? Doesn't Russian wealth odor of blood?"

Kharlan's Ukrainian team-mate - Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Igor Reizlin - was scheduled to instrumentality to the piste against Russian Vadim Anokhin connected Wednesday but did not contiguous himself, subsequently forfeiting.