Bach wrong on Russian participation, says Ukrainian tennis player Kostyuk

BERLIN : International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was wrong to argue that Russian and Belarus athletes can return to international competitions because they already compete without friction in some sports, Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk said on Wednesday.   

Bach used the example of Kostyuk's victory at the WTA tournament in Austin, Texas over Russia's Varvara Gracheva in the final earlier this month, to reinforce his point on Tuesday that Russians already compete in some sports without problems.

"My game was mentioned by Bach (on Tuesday)," Kostyuk said in a conference call with Olympic champions and other international athletes who oppose the readmission of Russia and Belarus.

"We have a ranking system in our sport. If I don't participate I will lose my ranking and my career will be over," added Kostyuk, ranked 38 in the world.

She snubbed her opponent after her win, refusing to shake the Russian's hand in a move that made global headlines.

"A lot has been said and I wanted to say from myself, we have not been doing it publicly, but for the last year we have been fighting to exclude Russians and Belarusians from our sport," she said.

"Unfortunately we are not independent players. We are working for WTA and ATP organisations (tour organisers) and we do not have a lot of power to make changes."

Fellow Ukrainian tennis player Lesia Tsurenko said every match against Russians or Belarusians was an ordeal.

"It is an ethical conflict every time we play against them," Tsurenko said. "It affected me so that I had kind of panic attacks."

Athletes from Russia and Belarus, Moscow's ally, were banned from most international competitions last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Yet the Lausanne-based IOC has