German International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach announced in an interview that he would travel to Qatar to compete in the 2022 World Championships (October 20 to December 18), rejecting calls for a boycott.

“I will go there to attend the opening and the final,” said Bach, who was elected head of the Olympic body in 2013 and previously competed in the 2014 World Championships in Brazil and 2018 in Russia.

In response to calls for a boycott of the controversial World Cup, in part because of the gas-rich Gulf state’s criticism of foreign workers’ rights, restrictions on public freedoms and environmental impacts, Bach dismissed the principle of a sports boycott.

He added: “Our position is absolutely clear: major sporting events, especially the Olympic Games, exist to unite the world, not divide it.”

And the former Olympic fencing champion at the 1976 Montreal Olympics faced the issue repeatedly ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, which were criticized amid Chinese oppression of the Uyghur minority and witnessed a “diplomatic” boycott by the United States. , Canada, UK and Australia.