Athletistic / Tennis. Latvian tennis player Elena Ostapenko (11th racket in the world) after her defeat (0:6 3:6) in the 1/8 finals of the WTA-1000 tournament in Doha (Qatar) refused to shake hands with the representative of Belarus Victoria Azarenka. The reason for this approach has become known.
During the post-match press conference, neither Ostapenko nor Azarenka commented on this situation. However, some popular tennis resources cite their sources and claim that the Latvian tennis player refused the traditional handshake with her opponent due to a recent decree of the Latvian Sports Federation. . The fact is that on February 1, the Seimas of Latvia at the legislative level prohibited Latvian athletes from participating in the same competitions with representatives of Russia and Belarus, regardless of the flag under which the representatives of these countries compete ( i.e. the neutral status of the athletes).
Victoria Azarenka has won all five of her matches against Jelena Ostapenko so far. Interestingly, three of these five meetings have already taken place in 2024 (including the Australian Open Round of 16 meeting).
Source: Sport
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