Wrote:
Ahmed Farouk
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Sunday 17 January 2021
02:11 PM
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Many marveled at the appearance of the Russian national team with a different name in the World Handball Championship, which is hosted by Egypt, without the country’s flag appearing throughout the competitions.
The Russian team will participate under the name “Russian Handball Federation Team” in Group H, which includes next to it the teams of Slovenia, Belarus and South Korea, and under the slogan of the Russian Federation for the game, not the flag of his country.
The official abbreviation of the Russian team in the tournament has also changed from the usual abbreviation for sports competitions “RUS” to appear in the current World Handball Championship competitions with the abbreviation “RHF”.
The Russian Handball Federation ensured its qualification for the main role, after it tied with its Belarusian counterpart in the first match, and won a surprise victory over the Slovenian national team in the second round.
The reason for Russia’s denial of the appearance of its name and flag in the World Cup competitions is due to its implementation of one of the harshest sporting penalties in history. It stipulated that Russia would be banned from participating in sports competitions for four years.
The punishment came after many Russian athletes were involved in incidents of doping, in operations described by the International Anti-Doping Agency as systematic, which led to Russia being denied participation in all official competitions worldwide.
The penalty imposed by the Sports Court stipulated that the clothing of Russian athletes must be free of the word “Russia” unless it is accompanied by phrases such as “neutral athlete” or similar terms.
The Russian national team is also deprived of hearing the country’s national anthem as usual before matches, and is replaced by the official music of the International Handball Federation, during matches in which the “Russian Federation” participates.
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