Nov 3 (Reuters) – Canada will not let skaters from Russia or Belarus take part in the world junior ice hockey championships that are due to start next month in the province of Alberta, Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Tuesday.
Canada, a major international backer of Ukraine in its war with Russia, has already condemned a decision last week by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to allow Russians to compete in International Ice Hockey Federation events.
The world junior championships are due to run from late December to early January.
“While Russia and Belarus are supporting this illegal, unjustified, horrific war in Ukraine, as long as that’s going on, there will be none of those athletes competing for their countries in Canada,” he said.
“So, if you’re asking specifically about the world juniors, the Russians will not be there,” he told a televised press conference at the end of a summit in Antigua.
Earlier on Tuesday, national ice hockey federations in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic said they would refuse to play Russia at next year’s men’s Ice Hockey World Championship in Germany.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by Maria Cheng and Christian Radnedge)
