Call for Russia ban
TA urged to get tough
TENNIS Australia is facing renewed calls to ban Russian players from competing at this year’s Australian Open.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, issued a powerful statement calling on Tennis Australia to follow the example set by Wimbledon officials last year when they blocked all Russian players from competing while Vladimir Putin’s troops continue to wage war on Ukraine.
Myroshnychenko said Australian Open organisers needed to do the same as an act of solidarity with Ukraine.
“Russia manipulates sport and sportspeople to project an image to the world, just as Nazi Germany did,” Myroshnychenko said in a statement
“They engage in massive doping programs to buy sporting success as part of their propaganda. When we allow sportspeople from Russia to participate in the Australian Open, we do exactly what Putin wants.”
Under the current rules in place for the Australian Open, Russian players are only allowed to compete as neutral individuals – not as representatives of their homeland.
That’s the same watereddown approach that some other sports have adopted, claiming it is unfair to punish athletes who have no involvement in the bloody conflict.
But that policy has also been widely criticised as nothing more than a slap on the wrist because it’s a ban in name only. For years, Russian athletes have been making a mockery of the so-called punishments they received after their homeland was busted for systematic doping.
Allowed to compete at the Olympics as “Olympic Athletes from Russia”, gold medallists routinely flouted the rules by singing their anthem at medal ceremonies when they were told not to, and were feted by Putin at the Kremlin.
Myroshnychenko said allowing Russian athletes to compete at the Australian Open – whether under their official name or not – amounted to a meaningless penalty.
“It doesn’t matter what flag Russian Federation players compete under. It has Ukrainian blood on it,” he said.
“It would be a great shame if Tennis Australia proceeds. It goes against the strong stance that Australia itself – as a government and as a nation that stands up to bullies – has taken in support of Ukraine.
“I request that Tennis Australia reconsider what seems like an unprincipled position and send a strong message to the Kremlin by banning participants from the Russian Federation.”
Myroshnychenko added that any Russian players planning to play in Melbourne should at least declare their personal positions on the war. “If Russians, such as players, do not specifically condemn the war, they are collaborators in that war,” he said.