Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday criticized countries that oppose Russia's return to international sports competitions, after several European teams announced their refusal to face the Russian team in the World Ice Hockey Championship next year, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic announced that they had joined Finland in refusing to play matches against Russia during the 2027 World Championship, which Germany is hosting.
Russia has been subject to a ban on participating in International Ice Hockey Federation competitions since the start of the war with Ukraine in 2022, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) issued a decision in the interest of allowing the Russian national team to participate in the World Championship.
Russia has been facing a broad ban on participating in international sports competitions since 2022, but some restrictions have been eased in recent months, in a move that sparked Ukrainian criticism.
In this context, Putin praised the International Olympic Committee and the Court of Arbitration for Sport, praising what he described as “making decisions aimed at respecting the Olympic Charter and its principles,” in light of the gradual easing of restrictions imposed on Russian athletes.
Putin said, during a government meeting broadcast on state television: “Unfortunately, some countries are still not ready to abide by the pledges they previously made, while the restrictions imposed on Russian sports continue, and these restrictions are of a political, not a legal, nature.”
In light of the dispute over Russia's participation in the ice hockey tournament, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Tuesday that his country would not allow the Russian national team to participate in the World Junior Championships scheduled for next month.
The World Championship is scheduled to be held in Germany next May, noting that the draw for the tournament and its match schedule have already been completed without the inclusion of the Russian team.
Putin is known for his frequent appearances playing ice hockey during his long years in power.
The Spanish Footballers' Union demanded, on Thursday, that all professional matches scheduled for the weekend be postponed, "out of respect" and "from a humanitarian standpoint," after the death of Tenerife striker Jesus de Miguel.
The male and female players “in all categories”, whom their union contacted, “unanimously” saw that the next stage of the various Spanish championships “should not be played”, after the death of the 30-year-old player, who died on Tuesday morning, as a result of a violent collision with the goalkeeper of the Andorra club, during a match held on Monday in the second division.
The union said in a statement: “The football players expressed their deep sadness over this loss, and they believe that the psychological and humanitarian conditions are not prepared to compete in normal circumstances.”
She added: “Therefore, they informed the union of their opinion that the most appropriate solution is to suspend the tournament stage, a call for respect, mourning, and showing a sense of humanity.”
Realizing the difficulty of implementing this request at the calendar level, the organization called on Spanish football institutions to show that “people” come before “sporting and economic interests.”
Several matches have already been postponed this week, especially in the King's Cup and Queen's Cup, in addition to the matches of Tenerife, Andorra and Castellon (De Miguel's former club) scheduled for the weekend.
Spaniard Carlos Alcarras, ranked third in the world, reached the quarter-finals of the “Paris Masters 1000 Tennis Tournament” on Thursday, after his Italian competitor Matteo Berrettini withdrew due to injury.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion was scheduled to face the Italian in the quarter-finals, but Berrettini withdrew before the match due to an elbow injury.
After being exempted from competing in the first round as one of the top 8 seeds, Alcarras reached the quarter-finals in Paris after playing only one match.
On Friday, he will face the winner of the match between the Frenchman Arthur Weiss and the American Taylor Fritz for the ticket to the semi-finals.
The Spaniard has never won the “Paris Tournament” title, and he is the highest-ranked player remaining in the competition this year after the exit of German Alexander Zverev on Wednesday.
Berrettini (30 years old) suffered many injuries during his career, and was forced to withdraw this season in Paris when a hip injury ended his career early during his match in the quarter-finals of the French Open against his compatriot Matteo Arnaldi.
American Tommy Paul, seeded 12th, defeated Frenchman Cantin Alles 7-6 (7-3) and 6-4 in the first match of the day on the main court.
In the quarter-finals, he will meet either his compatriot Ben Shelton; The third seed in the tournament, or the Frenchman Arthur Rinderkneich.
With Alcarras' exit from the evening's match program, the French player Face will be the star of the evening when he faces the world number 7 Fritz 11th.
The Norwegian Casper Ruud is also competing; Formerly second in the world, facing off against German Jan-Lennard Struff.
On Wednesday, the “Paris Tournament” witnessed the exit of a number of the most prominent seeds in a series of surprises, as the Serbian Novak Djokovic, who has won 24 major titles, the Russian Daniil Medvedev, the American Frances Tiafoe, and the Australian Alex de Minaur, bid farewell to the competitions early, to join Zverev.
