Lauanne, Switzerland -- Russian athletes have been excluded (click here) from yet another sport that is extremely popular at home following the country's invasion of Ukraine.
Russia was banned from competing in international ice skating events on Tuesday, a day after being kicked out of soccer competitions and hockey -- President Vladimir Putin's favorite sport. The decisions follow the International Olympic Committee's request to keep Russian athletes out of sporting events around the world.
The International Skating Union, the body that runs the sport around the world, said no athletes from Russia or Belarus "shall be invited or allowed to participate'' in events until further notice.
"The ISU Council reiterates its solidarity with all those affected by the conflict in Ukraine and our thoughts are with the entire Ukrainian people and country,'' the ISU said in a statement.
Belarus has been a key ally of Russia in its attack on Ukraine.
The world figure skating championships are scheduled for later this month in Montpellier, France. The ISU decision means Olympic champion Anna Shcherbakova and 15-year-old teammate Kamila Valieva, who was the focus of a still-unresolved doping dispute at last month's Winter Olympics, will be excluded from the competition.
Also Tuesday, the International Volleyball Federation said it had stripped Russia of hosting the men's world championships in August and September and would seek another host country or countries.
"It would be impossible to prepare and stage the World Championships in Russia due to the war in Ukraine,'' the FIVB board said....
New York - Top-seeded Elina Svitolina, a 27-year-old professional tennis player (click here) from Ukraine, says she will withdraw from the Monterrey Open rather than face a Russian opponent at the Mexican tournament unless tennis’s governing bodies follow the International Olympic Committee’s lead and insist that players from Russia and Belarus are only identified as “neutral athletes.”
Svitolina wrote Monday on Twitter that she did not want to play her opening-round contest against Anastasia Potapova “nor any other match against Russian or Belarussian tennis players until” the WTA women’s tour, ATP men’s tour and International Tennis Federation “follow the recommendations of the IOC” and bar those countries’ competitors from using any national symbols, colors, flags or anthems.
The Russian military assault on Ukraine was into its fifth day....
