PARIS: Russia continued to pay a heavy sporting price for its invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday, frozen out by a snowballing list of sports with perhaps the most painful blows coming from ice skating and athletics.
However, Russian and Belarusian tennis players will be allowed to continue competing on the WTA and ATP Tours and in Grand Slam tournaments, despite its teams being suspended from the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.
Russia, traditionally a powerhouse in figure skating — they won six medals at the Beijing Olympics including two gold — had their skaters barred from all competitions.
This rules them out of March’s world championships to be hosted in Montpellier, France.
Their track and field athletes, as well as those from Belarus, joined them from being barred from this year’s world championships — indoors and outdoors — later on Tuesday.
It was a decision not taken lightly, with World Athletics president Sebastian Coe describing it as “going against the grain” to punish athletes “but sport has to step up.”
Belarusian athletes are being punished as the country is being condemned internationally for being used as a launchpad by Russian forces to attack neighboring Ukraine.
Both are significant blows for Russia, which under President Vladimir Putin had used sport as a powerful force for its image both globally and internally.
Under his presidency it has hosted the Winter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi — although that was overshadowed by the state-sponsored doping scandal — and the 2018 men’s football World Cup.
On Monday, the governing bodies who oversee those sporting showpieces hit Russia hard.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) urged sports federations and organizers to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from international events.
Hours later, FIFA kicked Russia out of the 2022 World Cup as football’s global governing body and UEFA joined forces to expel Russian national teams and clubs from all international competitions.
Russian football suffered another body blow on Tuesday when German sports equipment giants Adidas suspended their partnership with the Russian Football Federation.
Adidas generated 2.9 percent of its turnover in 2020 in the “Russia, Ukraine and CIS” regions.
Russian tennis players, including newly-crowned men’s world number one Daniil Medvedev and Belarus’ women’s world number three Aryna Sabalenka, will be allowed to keep competing in major individual events.
But they will not be able to play under their countries’ respective flags.
“A deep sense of distress, shock and sadness has been felt across the entire tennis community following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the past week,” said a joint statement from the ATP, WTA, ITF and the organizers of tennis’ four Grand Slam tournaments.
Several high-profile tennis players from Russia have spoken out against the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia’s top-ranked women’s player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova joined men’s tennis number six Andrey Rublev in criticizing the war.
“Stop the war, stop the violence,” she tweeted on Tuesday.
“Personal ambitions or political motives cannot justify violence. This takes away the future not only from us, but also from our children.”
Russia are the Davis Cup holders but will not be able to defend their title later this year after being banned by the ITF from its team competitions.
Professional cycling teams and national teams from Russia and Belarus have also been barred by the UCI.
But individual riders racing for teams based in other countries will be able to keep competing.
Russia also lost the right to host the men’s Volleyball World Championships in August and September.
This follows UEFA stripping Saint Petersburg of hosting the Champions League final — European football’s premier club competition — and Formula One canceling the Russian Grand Prix last Friday.
Badminton World Federation (BWF) followed their fellow federations with a blanket ban on the athletes, declaring it had “strengthened its measures.” Only hours before it initially just canceled BWF-sanctioned tournaments in Russia and Belarus.
Swimming was another rare bird to offer some sanctuary for Russian and Belarusian swimmers, as governing body FINA stopped short of banning them.
“Russian or Belarusian nationals, be it as individuals or teams, should be accepted only as neutral athletes or neutral teams,” FINA said in a statement.
The Ukrainians will, in spite of the challenges they faced in traveling, be present for the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics in Beijing.
“The Ukrainian national team will fly in full for the Paralympic Games,” the Ukrainian federation said in a tweet.
Amid all the gloom for Ukrainian sporting stars, there was a bit of bright news for Ukraine international midfielder Yevhen Shakhov — who plays in Greece — whose wife gave birth to a baby girl in Kyiv.
“The real heroes of our time. Heroes are not those who fight, but those who give birth to life. I love you very much,” the 31-year-old AEK Athens star posted on Instagram.
Elsewhere, Manchester City’s Ukrainian left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko was given the captain’s armband for his team’s FA Cup tie at Peterborough.
Russia’s sporting freeze grows over Ukraine invasion
https://arab.news/gqbf2
Russia’s sporting freeze grows over Ukraine invasion
- Russian and Belarusian tennis players will be allowed to continue competing on the WTA and ATP Tours and in Grand Slam tournaments
- Their track and field athletes, as well as those from Belarus, joined them from being barred from this year's world championships
Israel seeks to demolish West Bank stadium just weeks after UEFA intervention
- In January, a football pitch in the Aida refugee camp was saved, but Israel is now looking to dismantle the Umm Al-Khair Stadium in Masafer Yatta
RIYADH: On Jan. 20, an intervention by UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin prevented Israeli forces from taking over the Aida refugee camp football pitch outside Bethlehem, but now Tel Aviv is targeting another arena.
Less than a month later, Israel is threatening to demolish the Umm Al-Khair Stadium in Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank.
“UEFA saved one pitch in the West Bank. Israel is demolishing another,” read the cover of Game Over Israel’s latest Instagram post.
The latest move illustrates why this situation is not simply about saving one or two stadiums, but one which critics of Israel argue is designed to encourage settler expansion and make life increasingly difficult for Palestinians.
The Umm Al-Khair stadium in Masafer Yatta serves as a recreational space for children in the village who want nothing more than a safe space to play and take part in sporting activities.
It appears, however, that the well-being of these children comes second to settlement expansion demands. The pro-settler Regavim organization has reportedly claimed that the facility obstructs settlement expansion in the area.
“We received this stop-work order from the Israeli Civil Administration against the playground of Umm Al-Khair,” a resident said in a video distributed by journalist Leyla Hamed.
“If we don’t reply to our lawyers, this playground will be dismantled and demolished by the Israeli army.”
On one level, it may feel like a victory for Ceferin and UEFA to have helped save one pitch. But can it truly be considered progress if every time one stadium is saved another faces demolition?
Ashish Prashar, a former advisor to the Middle East peace envoy and leader of the #GameOverIsrael campaign, said: “You have to know who Israel is ... and Ceferin clearly doesn’t.
“Celebrating and receiving awards for playing a role in the saving of one pitch isn’t the work of justice.
“And it doesn’t protect the lives of Palestinian kids, nor fulfill his obligation as president of UEFA to promote peace, a legal assertion that gives the organization a very advantageous tax status in Switzerland.
“The only solution here is to be a serious person and suspend Israel.”
The so-called war may be over on paper, but until the wider system is addressed, the future of Palestinian football — and the peace surrounding it — remains under serious threat.
