Court rejects Katrina Lehis fencing team inclusion appeal

A court has rejected fencer Katrina Lehis' request for an interim injunction which would have led to the topic being revisted of her not being included in the lineup at next week's European championships in Switzerland.
The development follows Lehis being excluded from the national team, amid a long-running feud with that team's coach.
The first-tier Harju County Court ruled Friday that there was no obligation for the national fencing body, the Vehklemisliit, to include Lehis in the national team, and imposing that requirement on the association may constitute an unreasonable and excessive interference in its autonomy.
The court wrote: "Requiring the fencing association to make a decision with a specific content requested by the plaintiff via a court order may be an unreasonable and excessive interference in the association's autonomy, if such an obligation does not arise from legislation."
"Granting an injunction of that kind, where the likelihood of success would be currently low, would be unreasonable," the court continued.
The status of Lehis, an olympic medalist in the women's epee event, made no difference to this principle, the court noted.
"When making a decision on the request for an interim injunction, the court does not take into account the past athletic achievements or potential of the plaintiff or any other athlete for achieving the best possible athletic result in the future, but only whether the grounds and reasons presented in the claim meet the conditions for an interim injunction, as stipulated by the Civil Procedure Code," the court added.
Kristina Lehis said that: "The court decision today is naturally a disappointment and also an unpleasant surprise."
"I now need to discuss seriously with my aides what comes next – both legally and in terms of my sporting career. For now, my season is over, while the future remains uncertain," she continued.
Lehis referred to a sense of "hopelessness" which she said dates back to 2016, ie. several years before the Tokyo olympic triumph, in 2021 (since the games were put back a year due to the pandemic).
She also referred to "bullying," which she said would be "illegal if it took place in another field."
"Right now, I feel completely empty and powerless," Lehis added.
Lehis' lawyer, Mart Parind, said that since there was no scope for appeal even with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), they would have to live with the decision, though called the situation "very unfortunate," and cited a "three plus one rule," which he said had not been adhered to.
"I sincerely believed and hoped that our case had the potential to become an important precedent in Estonian sports law, clearing up the culture of sports organization in Estonia," Parind said.
"Unfortunately, this hope did not materialize," he went on.
"Today's development only confirms the acute need to create a central arbitration court specialized in sports matters in Estonia," Parind added.
Lehis' coach, Nikolai Novosjolov, said there logically should be rules in place for forming up a European championships team
"It is very painful to see an athlete, who has given everything and more for a long time, who is the second-ranked in Estonia, and who is in good shape and motivated, being discarded like a nobody. This is also very painful for the coach," Novosjolov said.
Lehis filed a request with the Harju County Court on Monday this week to suspend the validity of the fencing association's board decision on the team to travel to the European championships, and to oblige the board to immediately make a fresh decision which would include her in both individual and team competitions.
The "three plus one" principle means three fencers selected based on their national ranking, plus one selected by head coach Kaido Kaaberma.
The court noted that this system has been confirmed by later board decisions and has been in effect, without additional conditions.
The criteria for forming the 2024 European Championship team are not related to a decision made six years ago which included Lehis, as that decision confirmed the criteria for the period from 2018 to 2020, the court found.
Invalidating the disputed decision would in any case not grant Lehis the right to be included in the European Championship team, making the request for an interim injunction an inappropriate measure, the court added.
Head coach of the Estonian women's épée team Kaido Kaaberma, on Monday submitted the roster for both individual and team competitions to the fencing association's board, with Nelli Differt, Irina Embrich, and Erika Kirpu the three who made it on rankings, even as Lehis currently ranks second domestically, with Julia Beljajeva being the head coaches' choice.
"The defendant confirmed that the criteria were not later re-established, and the plaintiff has not proven otherwise," added the Harju County Court. "Even if the head coach based his decisions on such criteria, it does not mean that the board of the defendant did, or that it is formally valid and legally binding for the defendant, or that the plaintiff can justify a violation of her subjective rights based on such criteria," the court found.
Embrich, Kirpu and Beljajeva were, along with Lehis, the members of the Tokyo gold medal-winning team.
That gold and Lehis' own bronze in the individual events were the only medals Estonia picked up at the Tokyo games.
The International Fencing Federation (FIE) European Fencing Championships start in Basel, Switzerland, on Tuesday, and run to Friday.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kristjan Kallaste, Anders Nõmm
Source: ERR Sport