“How can you guarantee fair international competition” IOC Chief Thomas Bach criticises Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players
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Thomas Bach
The 2022 Wimbledon Championships are set to be played without the participation of Russian and Belarusian players as the organisers have not backed down despite the ATP and WTA deciding to remove the ranking points from the Grand Slams. As the war between Russia and Ukraine has continued now for more than 3 months, the decision comes in support of the European nation and against the Russian regime.
With the ranking points of the 2021 French Open dropping next week and points of the 2021 Wimbledon also being deducted, current World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev could well be at the top of the rankings for a couple of months as World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will lose 2000 points from his last year’s title in Wimbledon.
“We are becoming political tools” Thomas Bach on the Wimbledon ban
Speaking about the ban imposed by Wimbledon, Thomas Bach, chief of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave his opinion during a recent speech in Lausanne where he criticised the decision for mixing politics with sports and punishing the players whose only fault is to belong from Russia and Belarus.
“Look at our tennis friends: in Paris, Russian players were able to play as neutral athletes; while in London, for Wimbledon, the government says: ‘No way’. And if we allow that, if we give in to that, then we’re lost. How then can you guarantee fair international competition in your sport, if governments decide, according to their own political interests, who can compete and who cannot?
“So if you open that door, today it’s Russia and Belarus; tomorrow it will be your country. There is no country in the world that is loved by all other governments. This goes against all the principles we stand for. If we leave that to the governments, we are becoming a political tool and we can no longer guarantee fair competition,” said Bach as per welovetennis.
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Sarthak Shitole
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