On Friday, Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia referred to as on tennis authorities to ban Novak Djokovic’s father from attending the Australian Open, after footage surfaced of him being photographed with followers brandishing Russian flags.
“He should be stripped of his accreditation,” Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko advised AFP.
Myroshnychenko additionally referred to as on Djokovic, who faces Tommy Paul within the semifinals of the event, to personally apologise and to make clear his stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “He should apologise for what has happened, and condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he demanded.
A video posted to a pro-Russian Australian YouTube account on Thursday confirmed Djokovic’s father Srdjan posing with a person holding a Russian flag with Vladimir Putin’s face on it. The video was captioned, “Novak Djokovic’s father makes bold political statement.”
Serbian tennis reporters confirmed it was Djokovic’s father and the Melbourne Age newspaper reported that he mentioned in Serbian, “Long live Russia.”
Another man was photographed by AFP contained in the stadium throughout Djokovic’s match with a T-shirt bearing the Russian pro-war “Z” image.
Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who misplaced within the ladies’s doubles semifinal, mentioned the habits was hurtful, however was reluctant to touch upon whether or not Djokovic’s father ought to be banned. “No matter what I say, I will be hated until the rest of my life, especially by very aggressive Novak fans,” she advised reporters.
Last 12 months, Djokovic was deported from Australia for refusing to be vaccinated towards COVID-19 – the controversy overshadowing the beginning of the event.
Myroshnychenko mentioned the participant’s response to the most recent controversy would once more draw consideration away from what was occurring on the court docket. “The last Open was all about Djokovic. Now it’s all about Russian flags and Djokovic as well,” he mentioned.
Ukrainian former participant Alex Dolgopolov on Twitter mentioned open assist for what he referred to as a “genocidal regime” was “absolutely disgusting”.
Myroshnychenko was instrumental in persuading Australian Open organisers to ban Russian and Belarusian flags from this 12 months’s Grand Slam.
Honor and dignity
Russia’s embassy in Australia had hit again on the ban, calling it “another example of unacceptable politicisation of sports.”
Simeon Boikov, who runs the YouTube channel that posted the flag footage, urged Russian supporters to descend on Melbourne Park forward of Djokovic’s quarterfinal match towards Andrey Rublev. “This is about honor and dignity now. This is an attack on honour and dignity. This has got nothing to do with the war,” he mentioned in a video message.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned he didn’t “want to see any support given to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
The nation’s conservative opposition chief, Peter Dutton, referred to as the habits of Djokovic’s father “bizarre.”
“The Russian onslaught continues and, frankly, everybody of goodwill should be trying to deter, not encourage President Putin,” he advised Australia’s Nine Network.
Tournament organiser Tennis Australia mentioned on Thursday it could proceed to work with safety to implement entry guidelines, with out immediately addressing the incident with Djokovic’s father.
“Players and their teams have been briefed and reminded of the event policy regarding flags and symbols and to avoid any situation that has the potential to disrupt. We continue to work closely with event security and law enforcement agencies,” it mentioned.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine final 12 months, Russian and Belarusian gamers have usually competed below a impartial white flag as independents, as is the case on the Australian Open.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
