Ukrainian coach of Japanese fencing team banned for bullying

The Japan Fencing Association has banned their Ukrainian coach Alexander Gorbachuk from all fencing activities for one month after he was deemed to have bullied fencers during the Epee World Cup in Buenos Aires last month.

Confirming its decision to penalize former European team champion Gorbachuk, who has been preparing the Japanese men's epee team for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the apex body of fencing in Japan also said that he has also been banned from accompanying athletes to competitions for six months.

"Following the event on the 2nd of March, in Buenos Aires in Argentina ... we provisionally have decided to suspend the coach who has been observed bullying for a month,” theassociation said on its website,

"He is also banned from accompanying to any competition for six months.

"This suspension period started on March 23, 2019. We aim to eradicate all bullying and we will treat this accordingly."

The ban means Gorbachuk now has to skip the Fencing World Championships scheduled to be held in Budapest in July.

Earlier, Japanese media reported that the 46-year-old Gorbachuk had slapped athletes during the event.

Incidentally, Japan won their country's first team epee World Cup in Argentina.

(CGTN)