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#Hockey's international championship will not take place in #Belarus https://nu.federati.net/url/279613 [www theguardian com]
> The international ice hockey federation (IIHF) has said it will not hold this summer’s world championship in Belarus, amid concerns that it would be a propaganda coup for the country’s hockey-mad dictator, Alexander Lukashenko.
> In a statement, the federation said it had made the decision “in the face of the growing safety and security concerns related to both the rising political unrest and Covid-19”. Minsk and the Latvian capital, Riga, were due to co-host the tournament in May and June.
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> The IIHF’s sudden change of heart appears to have come about only after businesses sponsoring the tournament started to pull out, wary of negative publicity.
> On Saturday, Škoda said it would withdraw as a sponsor of the tournament if it went ahead in Belarus. “We’ve been a proud partner to the IIHF world championship for 28 years. But we also respect and promote all human rights,” the Czech car manufacturer said in a statement posted on Twitter.