Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday described as "very disappointing" the incident at an international draughts tournament in Poland when the organizers took away a Russian contender's national flag, suggesting that it caused her current losing streak
MOSCOW/WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th April, 2021) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday described as "very disappointing" the incident at an international draughts tournament in Poland when the organizers took away a Russian contender's national flag, suggesting that it caused her current losing streak.
Poland is hosting an international draughts tournament from April 23 to May 3. Russian player Tamara Tansykkuzhina, participating as a neutral athlete, was defending her championship title on Tuesday against Poland's Natalia Sadowska, when ex-European Draughts Confederation President Jacek Pawlicki approached the table in the middle of the fourth round to peel away the sticker with Tansykkuzhina's name and Russian flag, and also took away a Russian flag that was standing on the table. After the first four rounds out of nine, the Russian player is lagging behind her opponent with a 16:32 score.
"This is a very disappointing incident, but as far as I know the chairman of the relevant federation has already apologized, so I think we should consider the incident over ... I know that our player lost that match [round] and, of course, I think that her defeat is connected to that incident," Peskov told journalists.
Meanwhile, Pawlicki explained that he had acted at the order of former Polish minister of sports Witold Banka, who is the current president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
"This looks ugly. I did not know how Tamara would react, but we did not have a choice," Pawlicki told the Polish Onet website.
Damian Reszka, the head of the Polish Draughts Federation, has already apologized.
"I apologize for this situation. We were told that we had to do it immediately, right in the middle of the game, or the World Draughts Federation would be expelled from WADA," Reszka said, as quoted by Onet.
After Moscow rejected WADA's four-year ban on Russian athletes' participation in major sporting events due to alleged non-compliance with the world anti-doping code, the WADA Executive Committee filed an arbitration request with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). On December 17, CAS announced its decision, effectively easing the WADA sanctions. Under the CAS ruling, Russian athletes cannot compete in major international competitions under the Russian flag until December 16, 2022. CAS also barred Russian officials from attending Olympic and Paralympic Games for two years.
