In Australia, the flags of Russia and Belarus were banned after a tennis match scandal
About it reports Metro. Ukrainian fans also accused the Russian of "derision" over the athlete at the Melbourne Park court. Previously, the organizers of the championship did not prevent the fans from bringing Russian and Belarusian flags to the stands, if not related to any violations. According to some viewers, they had to call the police and guard during the match. The Russians explained that they only cheered the compatriot on a large tennis tournament.
The Australian Tennis Association has promised to work with players and fans to provide comfortable conditions for watching matches. "It is extremely dangerous, the war is ongoing. The match was held on a small court, the fans were very close to tennis players, there was a intimidation," the Ukrainian fan explained in an interview with local journalists. One of the Russian viewers explained that they just cheered for the Russian woman, because, except for them, only her mother supported her.
"We do not wave the Nazi flags and the flags of IDIL. This is a sovereign country," he said. Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia Vasyl Miroshnichenko strongly condemned the public hanging of Russian symbols and called on the Australian Association to resort to the policy of the "neutral flag". In the Russian Embassy, the ban on the flags of the Russian Federation and Belarus was called another example of "unacceptable politicization of sports".
After the start of a full -scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, tennis players from Russia and Belarus cannot compete in competitions under national flags. On ATP and WTA sites and rating pages, flags along with the names of Russian and Belarusian tennis players are replaced by a white square. Recall that the match of the Ukrainian tennis players in Australia came with fans with flags of the Russian Federation and portraits of Putin.