Opinion – Sandro Macedo: Punishing athletes for war in Ukraine seems like hypocrisy

A few days ago, a Russian achieved a feat that seemed unthinkable in recent years: Daniil Medvedev became the number 1 tennis player in the world rankings. Before, it looked like someone would only dethrone anti-vaccine Novak Djokovic from the top after the Serb adopts crutches or a walker.

On the same day Medvedev secured the top, Russia invaded Ukraine. The tennis player celebrated discreetly, saying: “We understand that tennis is sometimes not that important. I woke up with a mixture of emotions inside me.”

This week, Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina withdrew from a WTA (the women’s association) tournament for refusing to play Russia’s Anastasia Potapova. The Ukrainian urges tennis associations to follow the example of the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and start calling Russian and Belarusian athletes “neutral athletes”, without a flag or any symbol that refers to the motherland. This means that the leader of the male ranking would be a “neutral”, something as unprecedented as it is significant. And without punishing the athletes. Medvedev remains on the circuit.

In the Paralympics, they are punishing the athletes. Russians and Belarusians, until further notice, are prohibited from competing. Punishing athletes seems like a certain hypocrisy. Chinese athletes were never suppressed while China used its power to control Hong Kong, for example. Interestingly, the punishment for Russian Paralympic athletes takes place on Chinese soil, where the Winter Paralympic Games take place.

In football, one of today’s top Ukrainian players made a strong statement on social media, Alex Zinchenko, a left-back who normally is in Manchester City’s reserve, but is one of the main players in his selection.

First, Zinchenko had to fend off some idiotic attacks on the nets that say he is a “Russian-raised” player, as he turned pro at FC Ufa, from which he left for City. The player recalls that he received his football training “at the academy in the beautiful Ukrainian city of Donetsk”.

Zinchenko does not use the word “Russia” in the message, only “aggressor country”. And it explains why he is in favor of sanctions. “Evil must be punished in all areas accessible to society. We will knock on your doors with sanctions even more aggressive than you do when you cross our state’s border with weapons. Stopping the occupation is the main and only objective.”

Finally, Zinchenko asks famous Russian players themselves to speak up. “I know the opposition’s thinking is being punished in your country, but when the opposition becomes the majority, it starts to be in power. Therefore, all the people who don’t want death and hate in the world should scream loudly. and clearly about it. One should not be afraid of petty punishments when human life is at stake.”

In F1, Haas is trying to survive without the support of its Russian sponsor, which could make it impossible for Russian Nikita Mazepin to remain in the team. And what does F1 lose without Mazepin? beats.

In our little world, when the year ends and we start thinking about the retrospective of the most exciting games of 2022, Guaraní-PAR 2×3 América-MG, for the pre-pre-Libertadores, will have to enter the top 5. The team lost 2-0 , in Paraguay, until the 14th minute of the second half. And won 3-2 with a goal in stoppage time to take the game to penalties. In the collections, they lost by 4 to 2 and turned to 5 to 4, with the right to defend the forty Jailson, the goalkeeper not hired by Cruzeiro.