“The Ukrainians have nowhere to play, this is the end.” Svitolina against the tournament boycott

Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina does not support the view of Ukrainian Sports Minister and NOC head Vadym Gutsait, who urged Ukrainian athletes to boycott tournaments with players from Russia and Belarus.

“This subject is very difficult. I hope that further decisions will be balanced and will not harm Ukrainian sport and our state as a whole: domestically and in the international sports arena. I will try to interpret and clarify the tennis example and make my own assessment of what was discussed last week.

Now the advice is as follows: “Do not participate in competitions where Russian and / or Belarusian athletes will be accepted. What does this actually mean? This means that the careers of all Ukrainian professional tennis players, both adults and juniors, must come to an end. Because if we can’t participate in a tour where countries play under white flags, we have no place to play. This is the end. Therefore, tennis should be treated as a sport.

Suppose some other international federation takes a decision and allows these athletes to compete. As far as I know they are now competing under a neutral flag in tennis, cycling and they were allowed to fencing already last week. There’s no guarantee they won’t be allowed to do other sports tomorrow. What should Ukraine do with the performance ban on our athletes? Continue the ban? Are you buying “guns” from our athletes? Imagine boycotting and withdrawing from tournaments. What’s next? We went, they stayed and they continue to win for their country. We are not, because we broke up. Our military would never do that. They are fighting for every inch of our land, for every word, for the opportunity to fly the Ukrainian flag in liberated Kharkiv or Donbass.

For me, the tennis court is in front of me. I always fly the Ukrainian flag there, talk about the war there, that Russia is a terrorist country. I am attracting the attention of the whole world exactly where I have word and power,” said Svitolina.

The full expression of Svitolina.