Olympic Wrestling Champ Kyle Snyder’s Key Rival Misses European Championship Due to Bizarre Scenario in Romania

The contention rights of Russian athletes across various international competitions are a hot topic of debate right now. The opinions on whether or not these athletes should be allowed to participate in the wake of the geopolitical situation are highly polarized. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has mostly taken a negative stance on the matter so far.

Recently, however, this situation manifested in a rather unexpected way. An Olympic Wrestling Champion was barred from competing at the European Championship owing to his Russian nationality. In fact, according to a social media post, he wasn’t even allowed entry into the host nation by the authorities.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist denied entry

A post on Instagram by Wrestling Stars shared the news that 2x Olympic Champ Abdulrashid Sadulaev was denied access to the Romanian mainland. According to the English translation of the caption, “Rashid was not allowed to enter the Romanian airport. Romania gave a visa to Sadulaev after the controversy, but when he entered Romanian soil he was monitored and refused to enter, so Rashid Saadaleh will not participate in the European Championship.”

The incident happened at the Bucharest Airport of Romania. Notably, Sadulaev is a world leader when it comes to men’s freestyle wrestling in the 97kg category. Sadulave and America’s Kyle Snyder are legacy rivals who have captured almost every world and Olympic title in the last few years. However, the Russian wrestling giant got to taste the bitter side of international geopolitics. 

Prior to this, Sadulaev had been refused a Romanian visa, nevertheless, he managed to acquire a Schengen visa from a different nation. The officials responsible for denying Sadulaev entry expressed reservations over the validity of the Olympic champ’s visa. However, there is a minor idiosyncrasy in this judgment.

Prior to landing in Romania, Sadulaev had already visited the Schengen region on the same visa, specifically in Spain, from which he traveled to Bucharest. However, he faced no questions or problems in Spain. Notably, the Olympic champ wasn’t helped by the European Championship authorities. In fact, this happened despite the ruling political regime of Romania promising visa support to every athlete.

More Russian grapplers facing issues in Romania

On February 9, it was disclosed that the wrestlers were encountering visa complications with Romania. On February 13, it was revealed that Zaur Uguev, another Olympic champion, was unable to go to Bucharest because of visa complications. Sadulaev and Uguev were cited in correspondence from Ukrainian athletes to French President Emmanuel Macron. The letter levied allegations against the Russians for supporting the military campaign of Russia.

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Russia and Belarus are currently facing a negative stance from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as well. The IOC tightened its restrictions after October 2023 due to further geopolitical misconduct on the part of both countries. Notably, the Russian Olympic Committee unilaterally chose to include several parts of the Ukrainian NOC as its own members. Tensions regarding contention of its athletes have worsened post this move.

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