London, England) Russia’s current world number one, Daniil Medvedev, could be banned from competing at Wimbledon unless he makes public assurances that he is not a supporter of President Putin. according to DivideMinister Nigel Huddleston called on all Russian and Belarusian athletes to guarantee that they would not be associated with their countries.
The Minister for Sports said at a hearing of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee today that the government will only allow individual athletes from Russia or Belarus to compete in events in the UK if they have such guarantees.
“Many countries around the world have agreed that we do not allow representatives from Russia to compete. No one defending the Russian flag should be allowed to play. We need assurances that they are not supporters of Vladimir Putin. We are studying the requirements we might have to try to get assurances on this. connection,” Huddleston said.
This raised concerns in Wimbledon, which does not know whether the Russian and Belarusian tennis players will be punished for the invasion of Ukraine.
The English newspaper says that informal talks have been held between Grand Slam officials in recent days to discuss the possibility of bypassing the initial decision between the sport’s governing bodies and allowing players from any country to compete as neutrals.
