Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Abu Dhabi , SANA- The General Assembly of the Asian Chess Federation (ACF) voted on Tuesday to grant the membership for the Russian Chess Federation (RCF).
The voting took place in Abu Dhabi and 29-delegations voted in favor of admitting the Chess Federation of Russia. However, one vote was registered to be against, and six more abstained.
The executive director of the Russian Chess Federation, Mark Glukhovsky, told TASS later on Tuesday, commenting on the news that Russia’s RCF would join the Asian Chess Federation, that the announced move was likely to be officially inked in May.
“The RCF joined Asia de-facto after the RCF Supervisory Board voted in favor of it,” Glukhovsky said. “But, de-jure, the assimilation [with the ACF] will take place in May, after all legal and bureaucratic formalities are settled.”
Among the ACF’s member states are national chess federations representing Australia, China, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore and many others.
Commenting on the decision, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin announced to TASS that it was a positive outcome for national athletes.
“The Russian Chess Federation’s move to leave the European Chess Union [ECU] and join the Asian Chess Federation was a positive and a significant decision. It primarily benefitted our athletes,” the minister stated.
“The priority task is to see Russian chess players being eligible playing at global tournaments displaying their skills in matches against their strong and decent opponents,” Matytsin said.
“The Asian chess school is developing rapidly and it skyrockets, with great successes shown by representatives from India and China,” he continued. “Russia’s skilled chess players have also something to offer at the competitive level as well as at the level of the further development and popularization of the sport of chess.”
On March 16, 2022, the FIDE barred athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in international tournaments. The organization, however, allowed representatives of these countries to play individually under the flag and logo of FIDE.
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments referring to a special military operation in Ukraine.
Following the IOC recommendations in late February, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
Source: TASS
Hala Zain
