Fencing-Hundreds of fencers issue plea to IOC over Russia, Belarus decision

FILE PHOTO: Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee IOC speaks to the Ruhr Political Festival on "Olympics in the field of tension between sports and politics" while Ukrainian refugees protested against Bach and any participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games outside the Philharmonic Music Hall in Essen, Germany, March 22, 2023. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - More than 300 fencers have asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and fencing's global federation to reconsider allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in international competitions, calling it a "catastrophic error".

A letter sent to IOC President Thomas Bach and Emmanuel Katsiadakis, the interim president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE), comes just days before the window for 2024 Paris Olympic qualifying opens.