The Judo Federation of Ukraine has officially commented on the transition of a number of leading athletes to the flags of other countries. The reason was the news about the change of sports citizenship of the 21-year-old Elizabeth Litvinenko, the bronze medalist of the World Cup 2022 and the European champion among youth, which will now play for the united Arab emirates.

In an interview with Sports, sport representatives of the Federation reported that back in July, the athlete notified them of the decision to move abroad with her family and play for another country. After that, the FDU received an official request from the UAE.

" As part of the agreements, the Judo OAE Federation guarantees free participation of 10 Ukrainian athletes in the Grand Slam tournament in Abu Dhabi in 2026–2028, ”the commentary said.

Litvinenko has already become the fourth Ukrainian judoka, who replaced citizenship in recent years. Previously, Ilaria and Igor Zurkana took a similar step, who now represent Slovenia, as well as Alexei Boldyrev, who plays for Poland. The Federation emphasized that these athletes have long been living outside Ukraine and since the beginning of a full -scale war did not actually participate in national tournaments.

At the same time, FDU admitted that the boycott of international starts, where Russians and Belarusians are present under state symbols, influenced the situation. Recall that since July 2023 there has been an order of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, which prohibits participation in such competitions. Because of this, the Ukrainian team has already missed two world championships, which limited the possibilities for the development of athletes.

Nevertheless, the federation noted: talking about " " As for the current members of the national team, FDU does not have information about new transitions, ”the organization emphasized.