The Russian wins against Anett Kaufmann, but doesn't get a winner's anthem

At the European Table Tennis Championships in Ljubljana, the German Annett Kaufmann lost the final against a Russian player. The new European champion Elizabeth Abrahamian was able to take part in this tournament again. However, the Russian national anthem and a Russian flag at the award ceremony were not allowed by the European Championship hosts Slovenia.

“For the European Championships in Ljubljana, the Slovenian authorities set specific conditions under which Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to take part: they had to forgo their national flags, national anthems, national emblems and other official national markings,” the European table tennis association ETTU said in a statement.

The ETTU was “obliged to implement these conditions required by the host country specifically for these championships,” it continues. The association itself would have had no objection to Russian flags or the anthem.

After the Russian attack on Ukraine, Russian athletes and teams were initially excluded from all table tennis competitions. The 23-year-old Abrahamian has been taking part in competitions in the World Table Tennis tournament series again since 2025. In July 2026, the ETTU and the world association WTT lifted the starting ban for international championships.

For Kaufmann, this final constellation was something special, especially for personal reasons. Her parents are former competitive athletes in ice hockey and alpine skiing and were born in Kazakhstan. The 20-year-old has a friendship with Abrahamian that began when they were both young and before the Russian attack on Ukraine.

"We are very good friends. I like her. And she plays incredibly good table tennis," said Kaufmann, who still found it difficult to digest her narrow defeat in 3:4 sets.

"Let's put it this way: I'm - to put it exaggeratedly - not used to losing in the final. Because most of the time when I was in a final, I was able to win it," said the German champion and junior world champion in tears. "But I think it was a good tournament. I fought and gave my best in the final. The only thing I can do now is accept that, hold on to the positive and see that as motivation."