The police are not going to deport two Russian tennis players who are playing in a tournament in Liberec

Tennis, clay, cleaning the line – illustrative photo.

Liberec – The police are not going to deport two Russian tennis players who are participating in the challenger in Liberec this week. She carried out a residency check with them, and found no irregularities. Both players are in the country in accordance with Czech legal regulations. Josef Urban, spokesman for the foreign police, told ČTK today. Last week, the Czech authorities, on the other hand, did not allow one of the Russian women, who was supposed to participate in the WTA tournament in Prague's Sparta, into the country.

Advertisement'; }

Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government approved a ban on the start of Russian and Belarusian athletes on Czech territory. Although Belarus did not actively participate in the war, it allowed Russia to launch attacks from its territory. However, according to the interpretation of the National Sports Agency, the government regulation only applies to representatives of their countries, which tennis players are not, because they play in tournaments under a neutral status and without state symbols.

Russian tennis players Kirill Kivattsev and Děnis Klok played the Liberec qualification at the weekend challenger. After Saturday's draw, the organizers informed the National Sports Agency and cooperated with the foreign police. “We have already completed the screening,” Urban said today. He could not give specific reasons why Russians can stay in the Czech Republic.

Kivatcev successfully managed both qualifying matches and will thus play in the main competition in Liberec. Klok was eliminated in the second round of qualification, he is still registered for the doubles. According to the statement of the Liberec tournament director Tomáš Trsk for iDNES.cz, the available information spoke in their favor. “One (Klok) was born in Crimea and until 2014 he was a Ukrainian. He is also here with the delegation there. And he was given a Russian passport only because of the seizure of Crimea. And the other player (Kivattsev) has been living in Italy for eight years and has applied for citizenship there,” said Trsek.

At the same time, the main competition of the women's WTA tournament started at Sparta Prague today. Not one of the originally registered Russian and Belarusian players is in its spider. One of them was arrested early Thursday evening by the foreign police on the Ruzyn the airport was not allowed into the Czech Republic based on a government order.

The women's tennis association WTA paused over the move by the Czech authorities, which reminded that Russian and Belarusian female players, like their male counterparts, compete in tournaments under a neutral flag.