Wimbledon Second Fall From Grace, Boris Johnson russia belarus ban, how western hypocrisy hurts sports
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At a glance, it was a decision against the sports culture and sports spirit, as the players had nothing to do with the government decisions of Russia or Belarus. The interesting thing here is that there are 3 Russians in the men’s top-12 – Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov. Medvedev and Khachanov don’t even live in Russia. Sabalenka calls the US home, while Victoria Azarenka, the other Belarusian former world No. 1, lives in Los Angeles. Rublev has publicly stated that his country’s invasion of Ukraine was “terrible”. He said this knowing how big a crime it is to criticize Moscow.
The decision to ban Wimbledon was disappointing for tennis fans, whose money pays the bills for the Grand Slams. A big farce was created so that no one should oppose this decision of Britain. However, the ATP and WTA, the respective players’ associations in men’s and women’s tennis, saw through Wimbledon’s hypocrisy and vehemently rejected the bans from their tournaments. He also rightly argued that players from any country should be admitted to tournaments on the basis of merit and national discrimination should not be tolerated.
Wimbledon, on the other hand, lifted the ban on players from Russia and Belarus this season, but made the cruel decision of keeping the players’ country blank during the tournament. Last year, women’s champion Elena Rybakina shocked Wimbledon by changing her federation. She was born and raised in Russia and lived for 19 years. He had decided to come under the flag of Kazakhstan to take part in the tournament. However, this time Wimbledon learned its lesson and lifted the ban on Russian and Belarusian players.
The matter does not end here. The on-court TV reporter scoffed at Sabalenka to tell us how happy you are to be back at Wimbledon. This question was a bit strange. It seemed as if she had missed the tournament last year due to personal reasons. However, the cunning Sabalenka understood the whole matter. He replied amid loud applause – I don’t know how much this place means to me. Thank you all for coming. It really means a lot to me! His answer won everyone’s heart.
At Wimbledon, however, discrimination against Russian and Belarusian players continued. The names of Russia and Belarus remained blank next to the players’ names on the famous black and lime scoreboard (nothing was written here. It’s as if these countries don’t exist.) Wimbledon should call the United Nations to investigate. Every other player had their own countries, so why not the Russians and the Belarusians? The matter does not end here. If any player had a Russian flag or any symbol on his kit, action would have been taken against him.
On the other hand, some enthusiastic players were seen making statements in support of Ukraine. Poland’s current world number 1 female player Inga Swiatek crossed the limits of hypocrisy by wearing the Ukrainian flag. Didn’t Wimbledon notice this? Sports are supposed to be beyond the filth of politics and diplomacy, which are weighed on separate scales of merit from rich to poor. IOC has to be praised here. He has taken a commendable decision on the Paris 2024 Games. Rejecting all pressure and politics from Western countries and Ukraine, refused to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes. Athletes will be able to participate neutrally in this Mahakumbh of sports.
(Author: Rajkamal Rao, US-based commentator, former management consultant and MD of an educational consulting firm)
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