International Boxing Association President Umar Kremlev has claimed
that "the time has now come" for Russian and Belarusian athletes to
compete under their own flag at all sports events, and insisted that
Ukrainian athletes should also have that right amid a row at the
European Junior Championships.
The man is passionate, to say the least. Present from the first minutes of competition, he spends hours watching each match, noting the result and carefully analysing what he sees. This man is none other than the President of the Mongolian Judo Federation and former President of the Republic, H.E. Khaltmaa Battulga. As the preliminary rounds of the second day of competition of the Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam have just ended and before he re-takes his seat to follow the final block, we asked him what he thought of the event so far.
The Ukrainian Judo Federation has questioned the neutrality status of
Russian athletes - who are able to compete under the International
Judo Federation banner in international competitions - by posting a
list of judokas from the country that are part of the armed forces.