“There will be punishments for arbitrariness.” What will the scandal of the non-admission of Russians in Prague lead to?
Arina Poluyanova July 29, 2023, 10:30 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
The organizers of the Czech tournament can expect penalties for the deportation of our tennis player.
In July, Russian and Belarusian tennis players were hit with a wave of suspensions from competition. Several juniors were unable to participate in the Wimbledon junior competitions at the same time due to special tournament rules. Soon Anastasia Potapova was detained for a German visa and forced to withdraw from the tournament in Hamburg. Almost simultaneously, Vera Zvonareva was not allowed to enter Warsaw: the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs explained this by the fact that the tennis player “was not allowed by the border guard for reasons of state security and public order.” Now the scandal with the non-admission of Russian athletes has arisen in the Czech Republic.
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What do they say in the Czech Republic?
On Friday, July 28, the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic announced a U-turn by a Russian tennis player at the state border.
“What will happen with the arrival of the Russian and Belarusian tennis players? The Czech police, during a control of a Russian citizen at the airport, ordered her to leave the country. She already left the Czech Republic. According to the information available, other tennis players from these countries will not attend. The police act in accordance with government laws and regulations,” the ministry said in a statement.
The name of the Russian woman in the Czech Republic is not called. However, it is clear that the tennis player has already left the country after being deported by local authorities.
Next week, from July 31 to August 5, the WTA-250 series tournament will take place in Prague. The director of the competition, Miroslav Maly, commented on the deportation of one of the intended participants.
“The organization of the tournament fully complies with the current regulations of state agencies. In such a situation, we do not expect any player with Russian or Belarusian citizenship to participate in the next tournament, ”Idnes.cz quotes Maly.
Anastasia Potapova
Photo: Tim Clayton/Getty Images
The head of the Czech tournament added that he had notified the rest of the Russian and Belarusian athletes through the WTA about not allowing them to enter the country.
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Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan did not stand aside either. According to him, the decision to deport Russians and Belarusians was made due to the situation in Ukraine. The country’s authorities did this in June: then the Czech Republic forbade its national teams to perform on the territory of Russia, and also closed the entrance to Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in competitions.
At the same time, last year, the tournament in Prague accepted six Russian tennis players at once. One of them, Anastasia Potapova, even made it to the final, where she lost to the owner of the courts, Marie Bouzkova.
What they say in Russia
The Russian side reacted to what happened on the border of the Czech Republic. They all said one thing: the tournament organizers should be deprived of the opportunity to hold competitions.
“I think that after such an act in relation to the Russian tennis player, the organizers of the WTA-250 tournament in Prague will be sanctioned, because such a decision is contrary to the rules of the Women’s Tennis Association. It was an individual initiative, driven by political pressure from the Czech authorities, and not from the organization itself. And in this case, Prague can simply lose the right to host the tournament or receive a significant fine. Foreign media have repeatedly written that such arbitrariness will definitely be punished by the WTA, ”the Roland Garros champion – 1974 paired with Olga Morozova RT quotes.
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“The WTA is obligated to respond immediately and take all necessary measures. Because this is a blow mainly to the image of the organization and its business processes. The Brits have already been fined £1 million for not allowing Russian tennis players. And in this case, I ask the association to deprive the Czech Republic of the right to host the tournament. This state hinders the development of tennis and neglects the rules, ”quotes RT Dmitry Svishchev, chairman of the State Duma Committee for Physical Culture and Sports.
What can threaten the organizers of the tournament.
The incident with the Czech tournament really resembles the story of last year with the non-admission of Russians to Wimbledon. The ATP and WTA then imposed a total fine of $2 million on the organizers of the TBSH on grass, although this June the ATP halved the sanctions of the Wimbledon leadership.
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The WTA has already ruled on the non-admission of Russian women to the tournament in the Czech Republic.
“Individual WTA players who have Russian/Belarusian citizenship continue to play on the tour in neutral status. Despite this, the Czech authorities have denied entry to some WTA players to the WTA-250 tournament that will take place in Prague next week.
WTA rules state that all players must be admitted to WTA competition on merit alone, without discrimination. We will continue to monitor developments given the important considerations surrounding these complex geopolitical issues,” the organization said in a statement.
It is difficult to imagine how the events will develop further, but if the WTA limits itself only to such statements, then the scandals will continue after Warsaw and Prague.
