Prague Open seeks local police to RAID and deports Russian and Belarusian players after banning them from competing in the event
The Czech government has decided to ban Russian / Belarusian players from participating in the upcoming Prague Open.
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Russian / Belarusian players will not play the upcoming Prague Open (Credits: US Open / Wimbledon)
The upcoming Prague Open has been marred by controversy. In a shocking move, local police carried out a raid and ordered the deportation of Russian and Belarusian players from the country. The Czech government has banned athletes from these countries from competing in sports competitions due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The incident that led to the deportation of a Russian player occurred when Czech police conducted a residence check on a person of Russian nationality. The police established sufficient reasons to terminate the player’s temporary stay in the Czech Republic and issued an exit order with a deadline for leaving the country.
Following the raid, the police put out a statement, “Yesterday, in the early evening hours of 27/07/2023, officers of the Inspectorate of Foreign Police at Vaclav Havel International Airport carried out a residence check on a person of Russian nationality, during which they were the reasons for terminating the temporary stay in the territory have been established. The person was issued an exit order and given a deadline to leave the Czech Republic.”
The Czech Republic police carried out a raid to deport any Russian/Belarusian players
The tournament organizers claim to have warned the players through the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) about the ban on traveling to Prague, despite the WTA allowing Russian and Belarusian players to compete as neutral athletes. This conflict instance has been the subject of much controversy lately.
Tournament director Miroslav Maly confirmed after the raid that the only player deported was the first player to enter the country on a Russian visa. “She was the first participant in the tournament who arrived in the Czech Republic with a Russian passport,” Maly said.
It remains to be seen whether this incident will have lasting effects on the participation of Russian and Belarusian players in future tournaments. The Prague Open serves as a stark reminder that sports can be a powerful platform for political statements and that athletes may bear the brunt of these geopolitical tensions.
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Ketan Kunkalikar
(129 Articles Published)