Elina Monfils demands a ban on Russians and Belarusians from the Olympics after Ukrainian athlete Volodymyr Androshchuk was killed in action
Elina Monfils demands the Russian and Belarusian players to be banned from Olympics.
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Elina Monfils,Volodymyr Androshchuk
Ukrainian Tennis star Elina Monfils was always on the frontline in showing solidarity with her compatriots. Elina is not active in the competition since 2022 and the reason she gave for the break includes mental exhaustion which is part of the Ukraine invasion by Russia.
She has now come up with a request to the Olympic committee to ban the Russian and Belarusian players citing the Russia-Ukraine war going on. She took to Instagram to pen down her thoughts on this including the sad demise of a Ukrainian athlete Volodymyr Androshchuk during the war.
Elina posted on Instagram, “The Olympics are the biggest dream and ultimate privilege for athletes. They are the largest platform for inclusion and diversity in sports, capturing the attention of the world. With this in mind we must stick to banning russian and belarusian athletes, sending a strong message worldwide, that we are united in the sanctions imposed against russia and belarus and that there are consequences for the heinous acts of their governments; their lives cannot continue as normal and the world, nor the russian or belarusian people can be ignorant of the atrocities they are committing in Ukraine.”
She continued citing the lost lives of innocent people including the Ukrainian athlete, “Volodymyr Androshchuk, one of Ukraine’s rising stars in track & field, was sadly killed in action. He will never fulfill his potential or dreams at the games, so why should russian and Belarusian athletes get their chance when their governments are robbing innocent people and athletes of their chance?!!”
Also Read: Goran Ivanisevic calls his ward Novak Djokovic ‘Crazy’ at the Australian Open
Elina Monfils is on a temporary break from tennis
The 2020 Olympics bronze medallist Elina Monfils has not played a single match since she announced her pregnancy in May 2022. She last played her match at the Miami Open. She had taken a break due to her back injury but her pregnancy announcement led to an abrupt end to her 2022 campaign.
Elina has won 16 singles and 2 doubles titles. Her best performance at majors was in 2019 when she made consecutive semifinal appearances at Wimbledon and US Open. She won the Tour Finals in 2018 and reached a career-high ranking of world no.3 in the year 2017. Being out of action for quite a time, the Ukrainian fell out of the Top 10 rankings.
Though she has been away from the professional sport, she has been upfront with voicing out her support for her country in the war-like situation between Russia and Ukraine. Along with her foundation called the ‘Elina Svitolina Foundation‘, she has been trying to use the platform to help Ukraine’s darkest days
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Vipul Payattuparambil
(552 Articles Published)