PRESS RELEASE – January 12, 2005

2005 DEAFLYMPICS: PROTEST vs. USA DELEGATION IS BEING FILED

            By Rafael Pinkhasov Pinchas, CISS Ombudsman

Melbourne, Australia – An international group of prominent athletes and officials representing various nations of Europe, Asia, Africa and America has filed a protest petition against the participation of the entire delegation of the USA at the 20th Deaflympic Summer Games competitions.

Because the USA deliberately and willfully failed to pay  certain penalty fines to the CISS Treasury, the international group, according to the protest petition papers,  demands, among the other things, the disqualification of the entire USA team from the Games competitions.

Among the signatories of the protest petition are the world’s well-known athletes such as  Terence Parkin, the “Deaf King of the Swimming Pool” and 12-time 2005 Deaflympic Games gold medalist in swimming, Rajeev Bagga of India, one of the top ten Deaflympians of the Century and 14-time Deafympic Games champion in badminton; Olga Fedorova, Russia’s World Female Athlete of the Year and 5-time gold medal winner of the 20th Deaflympics in swimming; Karamad Khosrow, one of the world’s most decorated Deaflympic Games medalists in wrestling and now the high-ranking official of the Iranian delegation at the Games.

Another  celebrated athlete,Dmitry Grigoriev, the 28-time Deaflympic  Games swimming medal winner from Russia, on behalf of the group, hand delivered the protest petition package to the CISS Executive Committee member from Venezuela Senora Maria de Bendeguz, at the Melbourne Sports and Athletic Complex premises today.

Here are the full contents of the protest petition:

“To:All CISS Executive Committee Members for 2001-2005/2005-2009 year terms

Subject: Protest against USA and Disqualification of USA  Delegation from the 20th Deaflympic Summer Games competitions.

Dear CISS EC Member:

We are formally lodging a protest against USA. Here are the following:

Rules violated by USA:
CISS Constitution rules 7.1.2, 7.1.3, 8.1.1, 8.1.1.1, 8.1.1.2 and 8.2,
Deaf World Championships Regulations rules 8.C and 9.D,
Deaflympic Games Regulations Rule 9.G.

Facts and explanation: USA, through its affiliate member in the CISS – USADSF -  has, to this day, failed to strictly follow the above-mentioned rules in the CISS legal structure by:

1)    failing to pay the 10 % interest penalty fee for its failure to pay the $800.00 CISS annual membership dues for the year of 2000 ( that is, from January 1 through December 31, 2000, USADSF did not pay a dollar for its 2000 CISS annual membership dues to the CISS Treasury ). Therefore, from April 1, 2000 and to now USADSF has not observed  the CISS Constitution rule 7.1.2; the participation of USA at the 20th Deaflympic Summer Games is also in violation of the CISS Constitution rules 7.1.3, 8.1.1, 8.1.1.1, 8.1.1.2 and 8.2;
   
2)    failing to pay $10,000.00 penalty fee for its withdrawal of the two teams – men’s and women’s – from the Deaf World Team Tennis Championships held during the days of June 27 and July 3, 2003, at Poertschach, Austria, in accordance of the CISS Deaf World Championships Regulations Rule 8.C;

3)    failing to pay the penalty fee for withdrawal of its  six ( 6 ) athletes from the Deaf World Wrestling Championships held during the days of  October 5 through 12, 2004, at Sofia, Bulgaria, in accordance of the CISS Deaf World Championships Regulations Rule 9.D.

Therefore, for the above reasons and in a strict observance and honor of the CISS Motto – EQUAL THROUGH SPORTS – it is hereby requested to entirely disqualify from the 20th Deaflympic Summer Games competitions the whole delegation of USA, including taking away all the medals USA athletes already earned at these ongoing Games.”

Signed by:”

As of today, the USA has won an aggregate of 25 medals, including 5 gold, 9 silver and 11 bronze, at the Games competitions.

Will the still USA-controlled ands influenced CISS Executive Committee heed the protest by  well-revered and important  personalities in the world of the deaf sports by taking an immediate and appropriate action against the USA – the Number One Abuser of the CISS legal system since 2000?


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