Speaking to portal Delfi, the coach, Kaido Kaaberma, said: "I believe that Katrina Lehis should not fence at the European Championships, neither for the team nor individually, because she stated in her letter that she does not wish to represent Estonia.

"However, the European Championships are exactly where the national team competes," Kaaberma added.

Lehis is ranked first in the Estonian women's rankings, meaning by the the rules, she should compete at the European Championships this summer, in both categories.

That Kaaberma and Lehis have had a testy relationship since last summer is common knowledge, while the situation escalated last fall, when Lehis expressed a desire to no longer represent the national team.

"Last year at the European and World Championships, we made a mistake by having one fencer compete only individually and another, Lehis, only in the team event. We did not perform well, and this system was criticized," Kaaberma elaborated.

"Consequently, I think that the entire team's foursome should also participate in the individual tournament. Lehis says she does not want to fence with the team, however, so I believe she should not take part at all in the European Championships," he added.

Kaaberma hinted that the situation might change if Lehis officially announces that she is ready to fence for Estonia again.

The final decision on who will go to the European Championships and compete there will be made by the fencing federation in any case; the board of that federation decided on Friday that Kaaberma will continue as the head coach of the women's epee team at least until the European Championships, which take place in Switzerland in June.

Lehis and her coach, Nikolai Novosjolov, declined to comment on the matter.

Lehis, 29, is most well-known for having won a bronze medal in the individual women's epee at the 2020 Tokyo olympics, held in 2021 due to the pandemic, and was one of the team of four that bagged gold at the same games.

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