Russian and Belarusian players banned from a women's tennis tournament in Prague
The organizers of a women's tennis tournament in the Czech Republic say Russian and Belarusian players will not be allowed to participate in next week's Prague Open
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Russian and Belarusian players will not be allowed to participate in next week's Prague Open, the organizers of the women's tennis event said Friday.
The announcement came a day after police prevented a Russian player from entering the country, organizers said.
Miroslav Malý, the director of the hard-court tournament, didn't identify the player. Malý said she was the first participant with a Russian passport to arrive in the country.
He said organizers approached other Russian and Belarusian players through the Women's Tennis Association to tell them not to travel to Prague.
Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus was to play singles in Prague while three Russians, Diana Shnaider, Polina Kudermetova and Erika Andreeva, were to play in qualifying.
The WTA Tour allows Russians and Belarusians to play tournaments as neutral athletes.
The Czech government has banned athletes from Russia and Belarus from sports competitions on Czech territory because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, Russian tennis player Vera Zvonareva was banned from entering Poland for a WTA tournament in Warsaw.
___
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports