FISA will Delay Further Disciplinary Actions after the intervention
of the Russian NOC and Rossport
The Executive Committee of the International Rowing Federation
(FISA) today officially responded to Tuesday’s letter
received from Vyatcheslav Fetisov, Head of the Federal Agency
on Physical Education and Sport (Rossport) and Leonid Tyagachev,
President of the Russian Olympic Committee.
In their letter , FISA President Denis Oswald and FISA Executive
Director Matt Smith stated their appreciation to the two Russian
sport leaders for their personal attention to this matter
and confirmed that they were satisfied that a working group
was being formed to organize an Extraordinary meeting to elect
a new board of the Russian Rowing Federation. The letter also
indicated that FISA is pleased with the appointment of former
FISA Vice-President and well-known Russian diplomat Leonid
Drachevsky, to chair this meeting.
It went on to state: "Based on your letter, our Executive
Committee has decided not to take any further disciplinary
actions against the status of the federation’s membership
until after this meeting that we trust will take place before
31 March 2008. At this stage, only our decision to ban the
officials of the federation taken on 29 January 2008 is in
effect and all fines and reimbursements should be paid to
FISA by 31 March 2008."
Denis Oswald stated this morning: "We appreciate that
the Russian Sports authorities have intervened to help find
solutions. This is critical to the credibility of the process."
He added: "These new elections need to be held before
31 March to FISA’s satisfaction, for example, that the
new board has been elected fairly and that no present office
holder has been re-elected before we re-consider the question
of further disciplinary actions."
The date of the new election has not been confirmed yet,
but shall be announced when communicated.
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