Cyprus has withdrawn its nine-member shooting team from an international competition in Doha because of the situation in the Middle East and statements by Iranian officials, Shooting Federation of Cyprus president Lenos Kyriakou told philenews on Thursday.
The team is expected to fly to Athens and then on to Cyprus, he said.
Kyriakou said the decision was taken in consultation with the Cyprus Sports Organisation (CSO) and the Foreign Ministry, and that there was no other option given the circumstances. Athletes from countries including Sweden and Norway had left training, he said, while Spain’s team “did not show up at all”. The withdrawal of the US team was also taken into account.
A trip by other shooters to Qatar, scheduled for Wednesday, was also cancelled, he added.
CSO president Giannis Ioannou had been in contact with Kyriakou and with Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos and Cyprus’s ambassador to Qatar, Elpidoforos Oikonomou, before the decision was taken, philenews understands. On Wednesday, Ioannou wrote to Kyriakou advising against a trip by the federation’s trap shooters scheduled for Thursday, and recommending that the federation consider bringing the team home.
The team, which travelled to Doha on Monday, was made up of skeet shooters Anastasia Eleftheriou, Konstantina Nikolaou, Panagiota Andreou, Stefanos Nikolaides, Dimitris Konstantinou and Petros Englezoudis, national coaches Michalis Katzianis and Takis Christoforou, and coach Christos Kourtellas.
On 30 October, the Foreign Ministry updated its travel advice for Qatar, recommending that Cypriot citizens avoid all travel to the country and that those already there remain vigilant, citing the current security situation.
On 23 June 2025, Iran launched a missile attack on the US Al Udeid air base in Qatar, near Doha, in retaliation for US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on 22 June 2025.
