Tallinn (Estonia) - Misunderstood protest or disrespectful action? The Swiss team caused a scandal at the award ceremony of the European Junior Fencing Championships - and has now asked for forgiveness.

The U23 team from the Alpine nation secured the silver medal in Tallinn, Estonia , behind the gold medal winners from Israel and ahead of Italy in third place.

On the podium, the other two teams paid their respects as the anthems were played and turned towards the flags, but the Swiss demonstratively turned away during the Israeli anthem - triggering a wave of outrage.

"Shame on the Swiss team for their disrespectful behavior," wrote Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar (58) on X. "You don't know how to lose and have behaved in a way that embarrasses yourselves and your country."

Shortly afterwards, the Swiss Fencing Association also responded with an initial statement. They had "no understanding" for the fact that the team had "misused the award ceremony for a political manifestation". Meanwhile, the European Fencing Federation has already issued an official warning against the four athletes.

Meanwhile, "Swiss Fencing" boss Max Heinzertold theNZZ that the young athletes had never expected so much dust to be stirred up and were "devastated" after landing in Zurich on Sunday.

This was followed by an apology on Monday evening in a further statement published by the association. A lot had been written - and hardly anything about the sporting performance. "We have only ourselves to blame for this. We would like to take this opportunity to explain our actions and express our regrets," said the young athletes.

The final had been very respectful and the fencers from Switzerland had also shaken hands with the gold winner. At the award ceremony, however, the group was overwhelmed by their own emotions.

"It had no political background and had nothing to do with disrespecting Israel. It was a personal gesture, born out of our grief and our empathy for the great human suffering of the civilian population, which affects all sides in this conflict," the athletes explained their motives.

The quartet now wants to learn from the situation. It is not yet clear whether further sanctions will be imposed by the federation.