The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Ad Hoc Division dismisses the application filed by Oksana Kalashinikova & Ekaterine Gorgodze

Tokyo, 23 July 2021 – The Ad Hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decision in the arbitration procedure: CAS OG 20/05 Oksana Kalashinikova & Ekaterine Gorgodze v. International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Georgian National Olympic Committee (GNOC) & Georgia Tennis Federation (GTF).

The CAS Panel has dismissed the application filed by Georgian tennis players Oksana Kalashinikova & Ekaterine Gorgodze (the Applicants) to the CAS Ad hoc Division seeking a ruling that they are eligible to compete in the Tokyo Olympic Games in the sport of Women’s Doubles Tennis.

The Applicants were not included on the Revised Entry List for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 published by the ITF on 16 July 2021. They were informed by the ITF on 17 July 2021 that their entry had not been submitted by either the GTF or the GNOC, even though the GNOC had informed the Applicants that their application had been submitted. On 21 July 2021, the Applicants submitted their application to the CAS Ad Hoc Division arguing that in accordance with the applicable rules they were eligible for entry into the Women’s Doubles event at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and that the Revised Entry List published by the ITF on 16 July 2021 should be amended to include them.

The Panel of arbitrators appointed to decide this selection dispute, composed of Prof. Luigi Fumagalli, President, (Italy), Prof. Song Lu (China) and Mr Juan Pablo Arriagada (Chile) held a hearing on 22 July 2021, with some participants present and some heard by video-conference. The GNOC was not represented at the hearing, nor did it file any written submissions during the procedure. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Panel deliberated and prepared its Arbitral Award which was notified to the parties on 23 July 2021.

In coming to its conclusion, the Panel found that the Applicants were not nominated by the GNOC for entry into the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and that in the absence of an official nomination, the ITF did nothing wrong in adopting the Revised Entry List on 16 July 2021. The consequence, however unfortunate for the two athletes, can only be the dismissal of their petition.

The original article can be found here.