Russian and Belarusian gamers won’t be allowed to take part in subsequent week’s Prague Open, the organisers of the ladies’s tennis occasion stated on Friday.
The announcement got here a day after police prevented a Russian participant from coming into the nation, organisers stated.
Miroslav Maly, the director of the hard-court event, did not establish the participant. Maly stated she was the primary participant with a Russian passport to reach within the nation.
He stated organisers had approached different Russian and Belarusian gamers by way of the Women’s Tennis Association to inform them to not journey to Prague.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus was to play singles in Prague whereas three Russians, Diana Shnaider, Polina Kudermetova and Erika Andreeva, have been to play in qualifying.
The WTA Tour permits Russians and Belarusians to play tournaments as impartial athletes.
“Individual WTA players whose nationality is Russian/Belarusian continue to compete on the Tour on a neutral basis,” the WTA stated in an announcement on Friday.
“Despite their neutrality, some WTA players are being denied by Czech government authorities the ability to compete at the WTA 250 event scheduled to be held in Prague next week.
“WTA guidelines state that every one gamers should be allowed to compete on the WTA primarily based solely on benefit, with out discrimination. We will proceed to evaluate the state of affairs as we issue vital concerns round these advanced geopolitical points.”
The Czech government has banned athletes from Russia and Belarus from sports competitions on Czech territory because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, Russian tennis participant Vera Zvonareva was banned from coming into Poland for a WTA event in Warsaw.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
