Russian trio denied visas for world championships

The Netherlands deny visas to three Russian gymnasts leaving them unable to compete at next week's World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam. Angelina Melnikova won gold at the 2025 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta The Netherlands has denied visas to three Russian gymnasts leaving them unable to compete at next week's World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, Russia's governing body says. Reigning women's all-around world title holder Angelina Melnikova is among the trio, which also includes Viktoria Listunova and Anna Kalmykova. The Russian Gymnastics Federation (RGF) has labelled the decision "discrimination" and a "violation" of the principles of equal competition, accusing the Dutch authorities of deliberately trying to keep the "strongest gymnasts" out of the event.

"The Embassy of the Netherlands in Moscow has notified the visa centre of its refusal to issue visas to three leaders of the Russian women's national team," the RGF said in a statement. "As a result, the gymnasts have been deprived of the opportunity to compete at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships." Russia said it would appeal against the decision to the World Gymnastics governing body and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), with the competition due to run from 17-25 October. In August, Melnikova was initially denied a visa to compete at the European Championships in Croatia. The decision was reversed on appeal