MOSCOW, Feb. 22 The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced on its website on the disqualification of the forward of the Ukrainian national team and Kremenchuk Andriy Deniskin for a racist gesture. In the match of the Ukrainian Hockey League (UHL) on September 26, 2021, Deniskin received a disciplinary fine and was removed from the site until the end of the game for a racist gesture towards the American defender of the Donbass hockey club Jalena Smereka. The Ukrainian player pretended to peel a banana in front of a black opponent. After the game Deniskin made a public apology for his act. He was suspended for three UHL games and received 10 additional suspension matches. «Racist gestures, comments and actions have nothing to do with hockey and are unacceptable in other areas,» said IIHF President Luc Tardif. «Deniskin's actions are clearly unacceptable, and they are not Despite the suspension for 13 games, the disciplinary panel decided to additionally punish the player. «Deniskin has no right to participate in all competitions under the auspices of the IIHF, exhibition, friendly and similar in concept matches. After the incident, the chief referee of the Hockey Federation of Ukraine Maxim Urda noted that according to the rules of the organization, the hockey player received the maximum punishment after the incident, but, according to him, in order to avoid this, sanctions should be tightened. During the hearing of the case by the disciplinary panel, Deniskin emphasized that he was wrong, once again apologized and noted that he personally apologized to Smerek — at the end of the game, he went into the opponent's locker room and, after talking with the American, shook hands with him.
