Russia on Tuesday continued to pay a heavy sporting price for its invasion of Ukraine, frozen out by a snowballing list of sports with perhaps the most painful blows coming from ice skating and athletics.
Russian and Belarusian tennis players would be allowed to continue competing on the WTA and ATP Tours and in Grand Slam tournaments, but their teams were suspended from the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.
Russia, traditionally a powerhouse in figure skating, had their skaters barred from all competitions.
This rules them out of this month’s World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France.
Their track and field athletes, as well as those from Belarus, joined them in being barred from this year’s world championships — indoors and outdoors — later on Tuesday.
It was a decision not taken lightly, with World Athletics president Sebastian Coe saying that it was “going against the grain” to punish athletes, “but sport has to step up.”
Belarusian athletes are being punished as the country is being condemned internationally for being used as a launchpad by Russian forces to attack neighboring Ukraine.
Both are significant blows for Russia, which under Russian President Vladimir Putin had used sport as a powerful force for its image globally and internally.
Under his presidency, it has hosted the Winter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi — although that was overshadowed by a state-sponsored doping scandal — and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
On Monday, the governing bodies who oversee those sporting showpieces hit Russia hard.
The International Olympic Committee urged sports federations and organizers to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from international events.
Hours later, FIFA kicked Russia out of this year’s World Cup as soccer’s global governing body and UEFA joined forces to expel Russian national teams and clubs from all international competitions.
Russian soccer suffered another body blow on Tuesday, when German sports equipment giant Adidas suspended its partnership with the Russian Football Federation.
Russian tennis players, including newly crowned men’s world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev and Belarus’ women’s world No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka, would be allowed to keep competing in major individual events, but they would not be able to play under their countries’ respective flags.
“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 a joint statement from the ATP, WTA, ITF and the organizers of tennis’ four Grand Slam tournaments.
Several high-profile tennis players from Russia have spoken out against the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia’s top-ranked women’s player, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, joined men’s tennis No. 6 Andrey Rublev in criticizing the war.
“Stop the war, stop the violence,” she wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “Personal ambitions or political motives cannot justify violence. This takes away the future not only from us, but also from our children.”
Professional cycling teams and national teams from Russia and Belarus have also been suspended by the UCI, but individual riders racing for teams based in other countries would be able to keep competing.
Russia also lost the right to host the men’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in August and September.
The BWF followed fellow federations with a blanket ban on badminton players from the countries, saying it had “strengthened its measures,” after hours before canceling BWF-sanctioned tournaments in Russia and Belarus.
Swimming was a rare bird to offer some sanctuary for Russian and Belarusian swimmers, as governing body FINA stopped short of banning them.
The FIA also said Russian drivers could continue racing in its sports, including F1, but under a neutral flag.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians would, in spite of the challenges they faced in traveling, be present for the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics in Beijing tomorrow.
“The Ukrainian national team will fly in full for the Paralympic Games,” the Ukrainian federation wrote on Twitter.
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