“The strange behavior of the organizers of the tournament in Poland. Pure marketing that has nothing to do with sports” – Svishchev

Dmitry Svishchev, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, called strange the behavior of the organizers of the tennis tournament in Poland, who recommended that Russian athletes not apply for participation in competitions.

The website of the Challenger series tournament in Grodzisk-Mazowiecki says that the performance of Russians and Belarusians is not welcome, and access to participation if they apply is not guaranteed. The tournament will be held from 14 to 19 August.

— The strange behavior of the Polish organizers. Local tournament, which is not included in the list of top tournaments and takes place in the countryside. There is nothing wrong with the fact that our athletes will not fall for it, no. By the way, I’m not sure that any of our athletes planned to go there. With this statement, the organizers want to raise interest in their competitions, draw attention to themselves. Because, probably, no one needs him and is not interested. It is not even in the top 100 European tournaments.

Maybe novice athletes planned to go there, but the elite of our tennis – definitely not. The hype was a success, a marketing ploy. Yes, pure marketing that has nothing to do with sports. Our stars are busy with other tournaments, and the Poles have achieved their goal, – RT quotes Svishchev.

Later, the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of Poland made a statement that they have no legal opportunity to influence the composition of the participants in tournaments under the auspices of the ATP and WTA.

In March, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that international federations, if Russians are allowed to start, carry it out individually, in a neutral status, without participating in team events, and also exclude the participation of athletes associated with law enforcement agencies.