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 on www.worldrowing.com when communicated.
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 on www.worldrowing.com when communicated.
You can read the full letter here.