FILE – Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts as she performs Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in a ladies’s singles semifinal match on day eleven of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Thursday, July 13, 2023. A 12 months out from the Paris Olympics, and practically a 12 months and a half since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officers governing the various sports activities on the Olympic program are nonetheless break up on the best way to deal with Russian athletes. (AP Picture/Alberto Pezzali, File)
FILE – Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts as she performs Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in a ladies’s singles semifinal match on day eleven of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Thursday, July 13, 2023. A 12 months out from the Paris Olympics, and practically a 12 months and a half since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officers governing the various sports activities on the Olympic program are nonetheless break up on the best way to deal with Russian athletes. (AP Picture/Alberto Pezzali, File)
FILE – Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts as she performs Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in a ladies’s singles semifinal match on day eleven of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Thursday, July 13, 2023. A 12 months out from the Paris Olympics, and practically a 12 months and a half since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officers governing the various sports activities on the Olympic program are nonetheless break up on the best way to deal with Russian athletes. (AP Picture/Alberto Pezzali, File)
FILE – Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts as she performs Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in a ladies’s singles semifinal match on day eleven of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Thursday, July 13, 2023. A 12 months out from the Paris Olympics, and practically a 12 months and a half since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officers governing the various sports activities on the Olympic program are nonetheless break up on the best way to deal with Russian athletes. (AP Picture/Alberto Pezzali, File)
By The Related Press
The organizers of a ladies’s tennis match within the Czech Republic say Russian and Belarusian gamers is not going to be allowed to take part in subsequent week’s Prague Open
PRAGUE — Russian and Belarusian gamers is not going to be allowed to take part in subsequent week’s Prague Open, the organizers of the ladies’s tennis occasion stated Friday.
The announcement got here a day after police prevented a Russian participant from getting into the nation, organizers stated.
Miroslav Malý, the director of the hard-court match, did not determine the participant. Malý stated she was the primary participant with a Russian passport to reach within the nation.
He stated organizers approached different Russian and Belarusian gamers by way of the Girls’s Tennis Affiliation 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.
The Czech authorities has banned athletes from Russia and Belarus from sports activities competitions on Czech territory due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Final week, Russian tennis participant Vera Zvonareva was banned from getting into Poland for a WTA match in Warsaw.
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