Ukraine on Monday pulled its team from the World Judo Championships in Qatar over the presence of Russian athletes it argued were active soldiers.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) gave judokas from Russia and Belarus the green light to compete at the May 7-14 championships in Doha on the proviso they compete as individual neutral athletes.
But the Ukrainian judo federation said in a statement that "the majority of the (Russian) team are athletes who are active servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, part of the army that attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022".
A Russian army, the federation said, that "is still waging a brutal full-scale war on our territory, shelling Ukrainian cities, civilian homes every day, killing civilians and children". "Instead, more than 250 Ukrainian athletes have given their lives defending the country.