Russian sport head voices support for Daria Kasatkina as tennis pro confirms she is gay

Russia's head of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports has spoken out in support of the country's top-ranked WTA tennis player after she came out as gay. Daria Kasatkina received backlash from two politicians for appearing in a YouTube video in which she confirmed she had a girlfriend, shared the difficulty of making it as a tennis player without changing citizenship, and condemned the war.

Kasatkina appeared in a YouTube video filmed by Russian blogger Vitya Kravchenko, in which she confirmed she had a girlfriend, sharing the difficulties of being gay in Russia. The world No 12 had previously come out as bisexual last year but said she had been inspired by compatriot and fellow athelte Nadya Karpova, who recently revealed she was gay.

Asked to confirm whether she had a girlfriend the 25-year-old simply said "yes", and has since taken to social media to share photos of herself and her partner, figure skater Natalia Zabiiako. But the four-time title winner has been condemned by multiple Russian politicians for her comments in the video - both on being gay and other subjects.

Now, a top Russian politician for sport has come out to defend Kasatkina and said she deserved support as a tennis player, with her private life not to be discussed as anyone else's business. Dmitry Svishchev, head of the State Duma Sports Committee, told Sport24: "Her personal life should not interest anyone. Unless it's yellow press.

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"I believe that Daria can live with whoever she wants. Let it meet, converge, divorce. This should not worry anyone, because it concerns only Daria herself, her relatives and parents." And the 53-year-old also admitted he was happy