Why Armenian Gymnasts Withdrew from BRICS Games

The Armenian artistic gymnastics team has withdrawn from the BRICS Games due to breaches of agreement by the organizers. This was stated by the president of the federation, Gagik Vanoyan, in an interview with Sputnik Armenia.

Previously, on June 17, Armenian gymnast Silva Sargsyan reported that she was disqualified from the BRICS Games due to the actions of an Azerbaijani judge. No further details were provided.

Vanoyan explained that during the registration of the team, the Armenian side received an offer from the organizers to appoint a representative from Armenia as the chief judge. Asya Simonian, an internationally qualified referee presented by Armenia, was deemed appropriate for this position. However, just a few days before the competitions began, the Armenian referee was informed that the chief judge had been changed to a representative from Azerbaijan.

“Regardless of which nationality the chief judge represented, we would still withdraw our application and exit the tournament since the preliminary agreement had been violated,” noted Vanoyan.

He emphasized that the chief judge plays a significant role in the competition, and changing him at the last moment is unacceptable. “Without a respectable reason, our agreement has been altered, our judge has been removed, and someone else has been appointed. This approach is unacceptable to our federation and, in general, to us regarding sports. Therefore, we withdrew the team from the competition,” Vanoyan concluded.

It should be noted that the artistic gymnastics competitions will take place in Kazan from June 20 to 22.

Armenia continues to participate in the BRICS Games in other sports. Armenian athletes have already won 7 medals (1 gold and 6 bronze) in karate, jiu-jitsu, and sambo.