After the incident, it was forbidden to bring Russian and Belarusian flags into the stands of the Australian Open tennis championship, reports BBC.
Initially, the spectators were allowed to bring Russian and Belarusian flags into Melburn park, however, on Tuesday, the 17th of January, the organizers changed their decision, and the ban came into effect immediately. The reason was the behavior of fans during a match between Russian and Ukrainian tennis players.
Tennis Australia said it would do everything to ensure a safe environment for both athletes and spectators.
Ukrainian fans said they called the police and security after Russian fans allegedly tried to intimidate Ukrainian athletes during Monday’s match. One Ukrainian fan told The Age newspaper:
«This is profoundly unsafe, the war is ongoing. It’s a small court, the guys were extremely close to the players, so there was an element of what I felt was intimidation.»
Russian fans pointed out that people were simply too suspicious, fans were only supporting their own, and there was neither mockery nor disrespect.
Russian and Belarusian athletes in several sports have been banned from playing with the flags of their countries since the start of the war in Ukraine. At Wimbledon, players from Russia and Belarus were not allowed to participate at all. Its organizers were later fined, and the World Tennis Association announced that the players should retain the right to compete individually.
The Victorian state government has said that Tennis Australia made the right decision and sends a clear message that Russia’s actions in Ukraine are unacceptable and human rights will always come first.
Read also: War in Ukraine: Russia attacks civilians and conducts exercises with Belarus