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World judo, taekwondo bodies punish Putin over Ukraine invasion

Vladimir Putin
Posted at 12:25 PM, Mar 01, 2022
and last updated 2022-03-01 12:25:58-05

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been punished by the taekwondo and judo world bodies for invading Ukraine.

On Sunday, the International Judo Federation announced in a statement that they had stripped Putin of its honorary president and ambassador, citing "the ongoing war conflict in Ukraine" as their reason for doing so.

According to the Associated Press, Putin is an accomplished judoka and attended the 2012 London Olympics.

The IJF announced last week that it had canceled the 2022 Gran Slam in the Russian city of Kazan, which was planned to be held May 20-22.

Putin was also stripped by World Taekwondo of his honorary black belt.

"In this regard, World Taekwondo has decided to withdraw the honorary 9th dan black belt conferred to Mr. Vladimir Putin in November 2013," the World Taekwondo said in a news release.

The organization said the attack on innocent lives in Ukraine goes against its motto: “Peace is more precious than triumph.”

World Taekwondo added that Russian or Belarusian national flags or anthems would not be displayed or played at future events.