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The Australian Tennis Federation announced on Tuesday the banning of Russian and Belarusian flags from the stands, following a Ukrainian request. Russia denounces an “unacceptable politicization of sport”.
The flags of Russia and Belarus are no longer welcome in the stands in Melbourne. This is the decision announced Tuesday, January 17 by the Australian tennis federation. She had been seized in this sense by Ukrainian diplomacy. In return, Moscow describes the decision as “unacceptable politicization of sport”.
“The Russian and Belarusian flags are banned at the Australian Open,” the Australian Federation said in a statement, adding that the ban took “immediate” effect. “Our initial policy was that fans could bring them but could not use them to cause disruption.”
Flags seen in the first round
Although Russian and Belarusian tennis players have been competing for almost a year under a neutral banner, the Russian tricolor was notably seen in the stands on Monday, the first day of the Australian Open, during the match between Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl and the Russian Kamilla Rakhimova (victory of the first in three sets). In the stands, Ukrainian supporters had asked the security services and the police to react.
Another Russian flag was also seen on the Rod Laver Arena during Daniil Medvedev’s winning match against American Marcos Giron.
The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, therefore called on the Australian federation to take action.
“I strongly condemn the public display of Russian flags during the match of Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Baindl,” he blasted on Twitter, urging the “neutral banner policy” to be respected.
Vasyl Myroshnychenko had already urged the Australian Open last week to completely ban Russian and Belarusian players – Belarus supporting Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine – as the organizers of the Wimbledon tournament did last year. .
Embarrassing @AustralianOpen – and it’s only day one! You could have banned Russian players and positioned yourself to give a robust response to such predictable incidents but you chose spinelessness. How painful for Ukrainians – incl. after atrocities by Russia in Dnipro yest.
— Doug Trappett (@DougTrappett) January 16, 2023
“You could have banned Russian players and positioned yourself by responding seriously to these predictable incidents, but you chose cowardice”, for his part lamented on Twitter the former Australian ambassador to Ukraine, Doug Trappett, in office. in this country in 2015 and 2016.
Discrimination for Russia
Reacting to the ban on Tuesday, the Russian Embassy in Australia for its part castigated “another example of the unacceptable politicization of sport”.
“As well as discriminating against Russian players with this ‘neutral banner’ policy, the Australian Federation is now going a step further by ensuring that they cannot receive any visible support from their fans,” she said. lamented in a press release.
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, world No. everyone feels better that way.”
“I have no control over that. What can I say? They did it, OK, no flags,” added Sabalenka, who was among the players banned from attending Wimbledon last week. last year.
Asked if she could understand that some Ukrainian fans might be upset at the sight of Russian or Belarusian flags, she replied: “I’m pretty sure they (are) hurt by this, and if Tennis Australia made this decision to make them feel better, okay.”
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine nearly a year ago, Russian and Belarusian players have competed under neutral banners at competitions, including the Australian Open.
With AFP