The first tier Harju County Court dismissed the suit on Wednesday, issued jointly by Lehis and sports club Le Glaive, against the Estonian Fencing Federation (Eesti vehklemisliit).

Lehis had not been included in Estonia's women's épée national team ahead of the European Championships in June 2024, prompting her to turn to the court to challenge the lawfulness of that decision.

The central issue concerned the so-called "3+1 rule," whereby three athletes should qualify for the national team based on their Estonian rankings, with the plus one to be chosen at the discretion of then head coach, at that time Kaido Kaaberma.

Lehis ranked second domestically, behind Nelli Differt, meaning under the 3+1 principle she should also have made the European Championships.

The federation and the coach however declined to select Lehis, claiming she had placed personal interests above those of the team.

The Harju County Court questioned the 3+1 rule's validity.

The court found that the fencing federation's board had, via separate decisions, approved the 3+1 criterion for picking the national team for the 2018–20 and 2021–22 seasons, but that this principle was not set in stone for every season going forward.

"In the court's view, the plaintiff's position that the so-called 3+1 rule was established already in 2018 and remained in force indefinitely thereafter is not convincing," the court ruled.

"Based on the evidence presented, both the coaches' council and the defendant's board addressed these criteria, and re-approved them at the beginning or in the middle of each season. From this, the court concludes that the applicability of the criteria was analyzed and they were established separately for each season, and there is no basis to assume their indefinite validity or automatic extension from 2018 onward. Therefore, there is no basis to presume the rules were implicitly extended after the expiry of the period set out in them," the court added.

The plaintiffs had, the court found, failed to prove that, as of April 2024, the fencing federation's board had established specific rules for forming up the national team. "The last relevant regulation set rules specifically for the Olympic qualification period, which ended on March 31, 2024. After that date, the special regulation lost its validity. The claimants have not proven that after April 1, 2024, the board established rules for forming the national team (be it via the 3+1 system or any other criteria). References by the plaintiffs to past practice, positions presented in the media, or decisions made in 2023, do not prove the rule's validity in June 2024. Protocols concerning the 2023 European Championships reflect the regulations of that competition at that time, and do not create a legal presumption that the same procedure remained unchanged in June 2024."

The court ruled that, at the time the disputed decision by the defendant's board was made, that board had not formally established binding rules for selecting the national team. "From the board decision of November 17, 2023, which resolved to 'update and streamline the national team criteria before the start of the next season,' it does not follow, in the court's view, that any specific criteria were thereby confirmed as being in force."

Additionally, the county court noted that its ability to intervene in the activities of a sports federation is very limited. "The court is of the opinion that the defendant, as a sports federation, has very broad discretion in forming the national team and in establishing or not establishing its rules, into which the court may intervene only to a very limited extent."

Lawyer Mart Parind, acting for Lehis, commented via a press release that Wednesday's decision was disappointing for the plaintiffs, adding errors had been made in examining the evidence. "An initial review of the ruling shows that the court has treated the evidence selectively, leaving out several important aspects altogether. In assessing some of the evidence that was considered, significant errors have been made, in the claimants' view. However, as the decision is still very recent, a thorough analysis and decisions on further steps will take time."

The ruling can be appealed to the Tallinn Court of Appeal within 30 days. The plaintiffs have said they will decide in the near future whether to appeal.

Lehis, 31, took individual bronze and team gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic. She recently won the second Grand Prix title of her career and is now ranked number one women's fencer in the world by the FIE, the sport's international governing body.

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