MOSCOW, Oct. 17 State Duma deputy Roman Teryushkov urged fans not to rejoice at Russian victories tennis players because of their neutral status. On Sunday Andrey Rublev became the winner of the tournament in Gijón, Spain. On the same day, Anna Blinkova won the competition in Romania. «These are commercial tournaments. Tennis players perform without an anthem, without a flag. For their last name. This is not about the spirit of sports. The state is preparing an athlete to represent his homeland. We know that the last time Bach said what he said in March. Athletes must condemn the SVO, betray the country in order to compete in international competitions. If the guys perform, they signed some papers, it means. I would not admire or rejoice at these victories. These are not victories of Russian athletes , but just players of a commercial tournament,» Teryushkov told Sport-Express. At the end of February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that sports federations prevent Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in competitions due to the situation in Ukraine. Most IFs have followed this recommendation.
