Taekwondo-Russians' absence makes sport even more unpredictable, WT head says

PARIS (Reuters) - The absence of Russian athletes in taekwondo at the Paris Olympics will make the sport even more unpredictable, the head of the martial art's world federation said on Monday.

Russia's Maksim Khramtsov (welterweight) and Vladislav Larin (heavyweight) both won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and were considered eligible to compete under the neutral banner.

But none of the two ended up on International Olympic Committee's (IOC) final list of athletes invited to compete as neutrals in Paris.

Asked in an interview if this made the sport, already deemed as one of the most open-looking, even more unpredictable, World Taekwondo's veteran president Chungwon Choue said: "Yes, that's true... Because the two athletes, especially the two Russian athletes are really talented athletes in their weight categories."

Pressed to say if it was a disappointment for WT, Choue said: "For them it's very (disappointing), but for us also."

"We are thinking that they are not military men, so they should participate as an athlete," Choue added, speaking in English.

The IOC has banned the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) for recognising regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine that Russia claims as its own - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Russians and Belarusians can compete at the Games only as individuals with no flag, and had to pass a screening process designed to root out anyone who has publicly supported the war or military.

WT fully respects the decision of the IOC and has implemented their recommendations from the very beginning, the federation said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Out of the five potential invitations that could have been sent to Russia and Belarus, only one was extended to Belarusian athlete Georgiy Gurtsiev.

Gurtsiev is among the 134 male and female athletes who will fight from Aug. 7 to Aug. 10 under the roof of one of the most iconic buildings in Paris, the Grand Palais.

Other athletes are set to come from countries hit by war or concerned by heavy geopolitic events, such as Omar Ismail, the first Palestinian athlete to ever compete in taekwondo at the Olympics, in the flyweight (-58 kg) category.

Five athletes from the Olympic Refugee team, including 20-year-old Yahya Al Ghotany, a Syrian athlete based in the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan and the first to compete from that camp.

(This story has been refiled to amend the shorthand of World Taekwondo (WF) to WT throughout)

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Christian Radnedge)