Russia Ukraine war: F1, Tennis, cycling join FIFA by banning Russian teams
Tennism cycling and F1 have joined the growing number of sports to place bans on Russia, while Chelsea’s EPL manager had to ask journalists to stop asking him about the club’s Russian owner.
Tennis
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Russian and Belarusian tennis players will be allowed to continue competing in ATP and WTA tournaments and Grand Slam events, the sport’s governing bodies said on Tuesday.
A statement from the ATP, WTA, ITF and the organisers of the four Grand Slam competitions said Russians and Belarusians can keep competing in professional events “for the time being”, despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, they will not be allowed to compete under the name or flag of Russia or Belarus.
The ITF have suspended both countries from team events, the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.
SCROLL DOWN FOR A FULL LIST OF HOW SPORTS HAVE REACTED
And the ATP and WTA tournaments set to be held in Moscow in October have been suspended.
The International Olympic Committee on Monday urged sports federations and organisers to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from international events.
FIFA and UEFA followed suit by banning Russia from international football tournaments with World Athletics one of many governing bodies also to implement a ban.
“A deep sense of distress, shock and sadness has been felt across the entire tennis community following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the past week,” said the joint statement.
“Our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine, and we commend the many tennis players who have spoken out and taken action against this unacceptable act of aggression. We echo their calls for the violence to end and peace to return.” The ruling means new men’s world number one Daniil Medvedev is free to compete on tour.
Russia’s Medvedev on Monday became the first man since 2004 outside the game’s “Big Four” of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to occupy the top spot.
Medvedev is one of many Russian and Belarusian tennis stars that have used their profile on social media to plead for peace.
“I want to ask for peace in the world, for peace between countries,” he posted on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Russian and Belarusian cycling teams have been banned from all international cycling events by the UCI on Tuesday, although individual athletes racing for professional teams elsewhere are exempt from the suspension.
“Russian and Belarusian national teams and or national selections are not authorised to take part in any events on the UCI International Calendar, with immediate effect,” the UCI, the sport’s governing body, said.
The UCI said it remained politically neutral after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but wished to uphold Olympic values.
Furthermore, Russian flags and the playing of its national anthem will be banned in Formula One, the FIA announced on Tuesday in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The FIA had already cancelled the Russian Grand Prix, scheduled for September 25, last week.
It says professional drivers from Russia and Belarus can only compete “under the FIA flag” and in a “neutral capacity” until further notice.
Haas’ Nikita Mazepin is the only Russian driver currently in F1.
American team Haas dropped the branding of its Russian title sponsor Uralkali during the last day of pre-season testing in Barcelona last Friday.
Uralkali, a group specialising in potash, has Nikita Mazepin’s father, businessman Dmitry Mazepin, as its non-executive director.
The FIA said that “no Russian/Belarusian nationals symbols, colours, flags should be displayed”.
The governing body has also told “representatives from Russian/Belarusian FIA members to step aside temporarily from their roles”.
There will be no races in Russia and Belarus until further notice. The FIA moved quickly to cancel the F1 race originally due to be held in Sochi last Friday after several drivers said they would not be comfortable competing.
“For myself, my own opinion is I should not go, I will not go. I think it’s wrong to race in the country,” said four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
CHELSEA MANAGER DRAGGED INTO OWNERSHIP DEBATE
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel expressed his frustration at being plagued with questions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with the future of the club’s ownership structure still unclear.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich on Saturday revealed he plans to place his ownership of the European champions into the “stewardship and care” of the Chelsea Foundation’s trustees.
Abramovich has not been named on a growing British sanctions list targeting Russian banks, businesses and pro-Kremlin billionaires.
But British Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran used parliamentary privilege last week to name Abramovich as one of 35 “key enablers” to President Vladimir Putin who should be sanctioned personally by the UK.
Ahead of Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Luton, Tuchel was repeatedly asked about the atrocities of the war and what Abramovich’s stance means for the club going forward.
“Listen, you have to stop, honestly. I’m not a politician,” said Tuchel. “I never experienced war. So even to talk about it, I feel bad, because I’m very privileged, I sit here in peace.
“I do the best I can because you have to stop asking me these questions because I have no answers for you.” Tuchel insisted that the day-to-day football operations of the club have not been affected by Abramovich stepping back, with director Marina Granovskaia and technical and performance advisor Petr Cech still in position.
“For me as a coach and in charge of the first team that decision does not change too much the daily business,” he added.
“Because I’m in the daily exchange with Petr Cech and very regular exchange with Marina about how to improve the first team.
“This will not stop because they stay in charge. But the role from Mr. Abramovich is not on me to comment, because I simply don’t know enough about it.”
On the field, Chelsea lost out on the first domestic silverware of the season in a marathon penalty shootout against Liverpool in Sunday’s League Cup final at Wembley.
But they still have two more trophies to play for in the FA Cup and Champions League, as well as looking to consolidate their position in the top four of the Premier League.
Tuchel admitted the scenes from Ukraine are proving a “distraction” but believes most people in Europe are facing the same problem.
“There is a huge distraction now going on and we are worried,” he added. “But at the end, we still try to create an atmosphere to come to work and focus on our work which is our passion and we are very, very grateful and very privileged to have it.
“It’s not that big a problem. But I think everybody in Europe, more or less, has some noise in their heads that nobody likes.
“Maybe it’s the same for you but still you try to do your job as best as possible, and it’s the same for us.”
SHAMED FIFA BANS RUSSIA FROM WORLD CUP
Martyn Ziegler, Owen Slot
FIFA has finally given in to the pressure to ban Russia from the World Cup and announced that all Russian teams will be excluded from international competition.
Only a day after provoking a storm of protest by saying that Russia could continue to play, though under neutral colours in a neutral country, FIFA changed its position. It came after an announcement from the IOC urging that all Russian athletes and officials be excluded from global competitions in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
FIFA and UEFA announced the ban in a joint statement. It means that Russia will not compete in next month’s World Cup playoff against Poland to try to secure a place at the finals in Qatar, and Russia’s women’s team will not take part in the women’s European Championship, which will be hosted by England in the summer.
Meanwhile, UEFA has also terminated a sponsorship deal with the Russian energy giant Gazprom, which is majority state-owned, that was worth tens of millions of dollars a year.
The FIFA-UEFA statement said: “FIFA and UEFA have today decided together that all Russian teams, whether national representative teams or club teams, shall be suspended from participation in both FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice.
“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine. Both presidents hope that the situation in Ukraine will improve significantly and rapidly so that football can again be a vector for unity and peace amongst people.”
The IOC’s action had left FIFA with little choice. The Olympic body said that Russia’s exclusion was needed to “protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants”. Its statement also applies to athletes and officials from Belarus, which has abetted Russia’s invasion by allowing its territory to be used to station troops and launch military attacks.
“While athletes from Russia and Belarus would be able to continue to participate in sports events, many athletes from Ukraine are prevented from doing so because of the attack on their country,” the IOC said.
Where exclusion is “not possible on short notice for organisational or legal reasons” then teams from Russia and Belarus should compete as neutral athletes with no national flag, anthem or symbols, including at the upcoming Winter Paralympics in Beijing, the IOC said.
The IOC also withdrew the gold Olympic Order awarded to Vladimir Putin in 2001, and those given to other Russian officials since.
Other sports are also introducing bans on Russian athletes and teams. The International Tennis Federation’s board will meet on Tuesday to decide whether that should apply to individual players. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev has just taken over as the No. 1 men’s player in the world, though the ATP and WTA — which run the men’s and women’s tours respectively — say that no exclusion of individuals is planned.
There is precedent for removing Russian teams from sports. In 1992, following United Nations sanctions, FIFA and UEFA expelled Yugoslavia from their competitions when war broke out in the Balkans.
The English FA had made clear that it did not want Russia to take part in the women’s European Championship this summer, which England is hosting.
Russia had been due to play Sweden, Holland and Switzerland in the delayed Euro 21 tournament but Switzerland and Sweden said that they would not play them. Russia’s replacement in the tournament is likely to be Portugal, who were beaten by the Russians in the playoff.
In ice hockey, the sport’s governing body has come under pressure from Finland and Switzerland to ban Russia and Belarus, who are both due to play at the world championships in May in Helsinki and Tampere.
There are due to be 20 Ukrainian athletes competing in the Winter Paralympics in Beijing, though it is unclear how they are going to get there. There are 71 Russian Paralympians expected too, many of whom have already arrived.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) board will convene on Wednesday morning in Beijing and the Russian invasion of Ukraine is top of the agenda. The pressure to expel the Russian team and the Russian athletes from the Games is huge and this will, no doubt, be the stance held by some of the 13 IPC board members. Whether they can get over the line the expulsion of the Russian team is another matter.
Ukraine’s athletes themselves have asked for both the Russian and Belarusian teams to be expelled in an open letter to Andrew Parsons, the IPC president, and Thomas Bach, the IOC president. The letter, which was published on the Global Athlete website, read: “If the IOC and IPC refuse to take swift action, you are clearly emboldening both Russia’s and Belarus’s violation of international law and your own Charters. Your legacy will be defined by your actions.
“Make no mistake, athletes in the Ukraine are united in this call. It has been a challenge to speak with all athletes from Ukraine as they are seeking safety in bomb shelters.”
This letter has received support from a number of athletes outside Ukraine, including Sofiya Velikaya, the Russian fencer, who is a double Olympic champion and chairwoman of the Russian Athletes Commission.
The letter points to the Olympic charter, a reference to the Olympic truce which promotes a global peace agreement, commencing a week before the start of the Games and finishing seven days after the end of the Paralympics.
Russia already has a dismal record with this truce agreement. Its invasion of Georgia in 2008 coincided with the opening ceremony of the Beijing summer Olympics. In 2014, when Russia was itself the host of the winter Games, in Sochi, the occupation of the Crimea began as soon as the Olympic Games were over.
– The Times
Originally published as Russia Ukraine war: F1, Tennis, cycling join FIFA by banning Russian teams
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