A loud scandal erupted around a major tournament among the best athletes of countries the Arab world. Immediately five Russians were on the list of participants in the Pan-Arab Games. Girls changed their names and dates of birth.
How could this happen Over the past year and a half, everyone has ceased to be surprised by the stories when Russian athletes change their citizenship and flee to other countries. Some of them do it with great joy. Like swimmer Anastasia Kirpichnikova, who called France home. However, what happened with the bid for the Pan Arab Games in Algiers is beyond understanding.
First, it should be noted that the competition is really big and serious. In terms of the level of the Games, they are inferior to the World Championships and the Olympics, but not critically.
So, profiles of five Russian athletes suddenly appeared in the list of participants. Badminton players Daria Dzhedzhula, cyclists Tatyana and Daria Malkova, track and field athletes Karina Poludkina, and swimmer Anastasia Sorokina.
All were declared under the Syrian flag, and the names were changed. Even the dates of birth of two athletes were entered incorrectly. The situation looked as scandalous as possible. Nothing has been reported about the transitions of girls anywhere before. Such actions can be assessed in different ways. The trouble is that none of the possible options bode well.
Puzzlement and denialSenior coach of the Russian national cycling team Sergey Kovpanets said that the inclusion of the Malkov sisters in the number of participants is a violation of all possible rules.
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"I don't know how it could happen, it's generally a violation of all possible rules. This does not happen in life. I think that while the consultations are going on now, we need to clarify everything to the end. Firstly, they do not have the right to play for the Syrian team. I don't know how to explain it. And in general, to be honest, no one will answer this question for you now. From them (Malkov) peace and quiet. Until they were quiet. The competition hasn't started yet. Here the question is from the side who initiated the application in this form,» Kovpanets said.
A little later, the mentor of the cyclists, apparently, found out the circumstances of the incident. In another comment, Kovpanets expressed confidence that the presence of his wards in the Syrian national team is a mistake and a misunderstanding, which will be corrected in the near future. He also noted that the athletes will not take part in the Pan Arab Games. Tatyana Malkova herself got in touch and tried to explain her vision of the situation.
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“I don’t know how it happened, but I didn’t plan to go to the competition. Arrived to train in Syria for a training camp. At the moment I am preparing for the Russian Championship on the track. I considered that in Syria there are good conditions for training, slides, a height of 600 meters, heat and good roads,» Malkova said. sports of Russia that two of our athletes will still perform at the tournament under the Syrian flag. It was about judoist Milan Mugu and gymnast Alexandra Maksimova. However, the head of the Syrian Sports Federation, Firas Maala, said that there were no Russian athletes.
According to him, three athletes competing in swimming, badminton and cycling have applied to international sports federations for naturalization. However, they were refused.
“There is not a single non-Syrian athlete in the Syrian team in Algeria,” Maala said.
There is hope that the nightmare has been avoided, although the consequences can still be unpleasant. The main thing is to figure out what happened and what are the risks of repeating the plot.