On Saturday, January 24 at the Extraordinary EHF Congress in Stockholm, the European Championship was awarded to Hungary, Austria and Switzerland.
“I want to thank our team, all employees of the Federation who worked on our bid, it was the best. Its content was magnificent. Unfortunately, there are certain factors which influenced the choice. I mean anti-doping scandals and the strengthening position of Russia in the international arena” – said Mr. Shishkarev.
The Head of the Handball Federation of Russia also thinks that the win of the joint bid is the consequence of the EHF policy to hold the tournaments in several countries. “The victories of the joint bids is a tendency. This makes it possible to host the event compactly and to move easily between the countries for the fans” – added Sergey Shishkarev.
“But we cannot exclude the political matters. When our women’s team plays for the qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, I will tell them how the election process was held to make them even more eager to fight” – concluded Shishkarev.
Russia may lose the right to host major sports events in 4 years due to the decision of the WADA in December 2019. The sanctions will come into force in case of the approval of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
Source - TASS