The situation in the Middle East and the statements of Iranian officials also had side effects for a Cypriot sports delegation that was in Qatar in the context of international games.
As the president of the Cyprus Shooting Federation, Lenos Kyriakou, confirmed a while ago speaking to filenews, the 9-member delegation of Cyprus in the Doha games has withdrawn.
Mr. Kyriacou informed us that the delegation is expected to arrive by plane in Athens and from there it was going to take a flight to Cyprus.
The president of SKOK told us that this decision was taken after consultation with the Cyprus Sports Organization and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Answering our question, Mr. Kyriakou explained that there was no other option based on the data.
"Athletes from countries such as Sweden, Norway left training, while the Spanish team did not appear at all," said Mr. Kyriakou. He added, in fact, that the fact that the US team withdrew was taken into account.
He also explained that a trip of shooting athletes to the Gulf country scheduled for today was cancelled.
On October 30, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, updating the travel advice for Qatar, recommended avoiding all travel to the country. The accompanying note recorded the following: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, taking into account the current security situation, recommends that Cypriot citizens avoid all travel to Qatar. Cypriot citizens who are in the country are advised to remain vigilant (...)".
On 23/6/2025, Iran launched a missile attack against the US Al Udeid air base, in Qatar, near Doha. The attack was carried out in retaliation for the US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22, 2025.
Before the aforementioned decision, there was a strong mobilization by the president of the Cyprus Sports Organization, Yiannis Ioannou. Mr. Ioannou, as philenews is authoritatively informed, had an understanding with the president of SKOK and had contacts with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Konstantinos Kombos and the ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to Qatar, Elpidoforos Economou.
Yesterday, Mr. Ioannou had sent a letter to the president of SKOK advising not to make the trip of the athletes of the "trap" event scheduled for today, while a recommendation was made in order to consider the possibility of repatriating the executives of the Cypriot delegation.
The delegation that went to Doha last Monday included the athletes of SKIT Anastasia Eleftheriou, Konstantina Nikolaou, Panagiota Andreou, Stefanos Nikolaidis, Dimitris Konstantinou and Petros Englezoudis. They were accompanied by the national coaches Michalis Katzianis and Takis Christoforou, as well as the coach Christos Kourtellas.
