The Baltic country imposed sanctions against the athletes, despite the position of the international federation.
Estonian authorities have banned Russian and Belarusian tennis players from participating in professional tennis tournaments in their country. According to championat.com.
A corresponding letter from the ITF was received in mid-July by tennis players from the aggressor countries. The reason is the same – the war unleashed by the leadership of these countries against Ukraine.
So, Russian tennis players will not be able to compete in the W25 tournament in Pärnu.
“International sport is now not separated from politics, Russia and Belarus use sport to achieve their strategic goals. With this decision, we send a clear signal,” said Liina Kersna, the acting Estonian culture minister in a statement.
We will note, earlier a similar decision was accepted by Latvia. The UK was the first country to apply sanctions against Russians and Belarusians. Because they were forced to miss Wimbledon. However, the ATP and WTA condemned the organizers of the competition and stripped the tournament of ranking points.
In addition, the WTA fined Wimbledon one million dollars for not allowing Russians and Belarusians to enter the tournament.
Remember that tennis is one of the few sports where Russian and Belarusian athletes are not disqualified for the war in Ukraine. They were allowed to compete in ATP and WTA tournaments in neutral status without the flag and anthem.
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Source: korrespondent
I am William Jackson and I have a passion for sports journalism. With over 3 years of experience in the industry, I have worked in a variety of roles to improve the quality and accuracy of sports news coverage. As an author at Athletistic, I specialize in covering football news and providing comprehensive analysis for fans around the world.
