Cyprus sports authorities are investigating possible unsportsmanlike conduct by the country’s men’s skeet team and their coach at the European Shooting Championship in Malakasa, Greece. The shooters walked off during the team final in protest at a judges’ decision and were disqualified.
The Cyprus Sport Organisation (CSO) and the Sports Ethics and Protection Committee (EDPA) have been looking into the case since Monday, following a complaint. EDPA is due to decide on Friday.
The Cyprus trio of Sotiris Antoniou, Giorgos Achilleos and Dimitris Konstantinou were facing the Czech Republic in the final on [day], with first and second place at stake. The dispute centred on a single clay target. The Cypriot delegation believed one of its shooters had hit the target on its right side. The judges rejected this, even after viewing footage of the shot. Members of the Cyprus team strongly contested the decision and walked off in protest. They were disqualified and their scores annulled.
The commentator covering the final judged that the target had been hit on its right edge, according to a video found by Phileleftheros.
The complaint, seen by Phileleftheros, alleges unsporting conduct that harmed Cypriot sport and the country more widely. It says that, beyond the severe penalties already imposed on the Cypriot athletes at the championship, the case will be referred to the Ethics Committee of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) for further measures and penalties.
Concerns have been raised that the incident will have repercussions for Cypriot shooting. There is also talk of competitive consequences. All three shooters are on the entry list for the World Championship in Doha from 1 to 14 November, and they were competing for Olympic quota places.
EDPA vice-chairman Efthymios Efthymiou confirmed the committee had received the complaint with all supporting material, including television coverage of the final, and that its members had been briefed.
He said the case recalled an earlier gymnastics case that had greatly worried the committee. In that case, the team competing in Athens was penalised by the international federation, which reflected badly on Cyprus. “Such behaviour damages the Republic of Cyprus and Cypriot sport internationally,” he said.
CSO president Giannis Ioannou told Phileleftheros on Tuesday that the organisation learned of the incident through a complaint. “I have assigned CSO’s control committee to investigate the matter,” he said. He explained that the control committee is a statutory body that will decide on the next steps to establish exactly what happened.
Whenever CSO investigates a complaint, its findings are passed to the relevant authorities to be dealt with according to what they show, Ioannou said. Cases are generally referred either to EDPA for investigation or to the police for a criminal inquiry.
