Ukrainian athletes and politicians condemned the disqualification of Olga Kharlan after her victory over a Russian opponent.
Ukrainian athlete and Member of Parliament of Ukraine, Zhan Belenyuk, shared this during an interview on KYIV24.
“I believe that every Ukrainian athlete would have done the same in a similar situation. It is unacceptable for us to shake hands with athletes from the aggressor country. I rarely agree with Mr. Gutsait, but in this case, I agree. It was a deliberate provocation. The same thing happened before when Igor Reyzlin was competing. He was also supposed to face a Russian athlete in the first round. However, he chose not to step on the same piste with the Russian, thus expressing his attitude towards this situation”, he said.
As a reminder, Ukrainian national team leader in fencing, Olga Kharlan, was disqualified from the world championship after she refused to congratulate neutral athlete from Russia, Anna Smirnova.
Photo: Getty Images
