Luxembourg Olympic chief 'regrets' accusing Malta of buying athletes - MOC

Knepper admitted he 'misunderstood the whole situation', MOC spokesperson says

Luxembourg Olympic Committee president Michel Knepper has "regretted" accusing Malta of buying athletes, a spokesperson for the Malta Olympic Committee has said.

Knepper stirred controversy last weekend when, in comments made to Luxembourg news outlet RTL he criticised Malta’s athlete recruitment practices for the Games of the Small States of Europe.

Knepper said at the time: “It’s regrettable to see a nation [like Malta] buying athletes by handing out ID cards just for these games... They did it two years ago, and apparently, it’s still happening.”

Malta’s Olympic Committee responded strongly to those claims, saying Knepper’s claims were “incomprehensible” given Luxembourg’s history of recruiting foreign athletes to represent the country.

Both sides met privately on Monday on the fringes of the current GSSE in Andorra, an MOC spokesman told Times of Malta. 

And according to the spokesperson, both sides patched things up and clarified their positions. 

Read the full story at sports.timesofmalta.com

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