The 2021 World Bandy Championship will be held in Irkutsk. This decision was made by the International Federation of Bandy (FIB), despite the December decision of CAS to deprive Russia of the right to host international competitions on its territory.
What happened?
The International Federation of Bandy (FIB) announced that the 2021 World Bandy Championship will be held in Irkutsk. The tournament was supposed to be held back in 2020, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. And the 2021 World Cup in Syktyvkar was automatically postponed to 2022. It will also take place in Russia.
Recall that on December 17, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) passed a verdict on Russia in the dispute between WADA and RUSADA, according to which it is prohibited to hold the World Championships and the Olympics on our territory for two years.
The Russian national bandy team is the reigning world champion. According to the new World Cup 2021 calendar, the matches of Group A will be held in Irkutsk on October 11-17. The national teams of Russia, Sweden, Finland, Kazakhstan, Norway, USA, Germany and Estonia will perform at the tournament.
What do they say about this?
The FIB’s decision is contrary to the CAS verdict. However, the court’s decision says that “it is possible to revoke or transfer the right to host championships from the territory of Russia only if it is not legally or practically impossible.”
Probably, the Bandy Federation did not have the finances and the opportunity to transfer the championships from Irkutsk and Syktyvkar, otherwise it would hardly have gone to such a precedent.
“The general rule is that the signatory party, that is, each international federation that has signed the WADA code, should take away the World Cup from Russia, which is to be held in this two-year period. But if this international federation can prove that there is no legal or practical opportunity to take this world championship, then it should be held in Russia.