Russia & Ukraine: The Sports Aftermath One Week In

Less than a week after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the conflict has bled into sports.

Suspensions & canceled sponsorships
On Monday, FIFA and the UEFA announced they will suspend all Russian national teams until further notice.

The indefinite suspension may potentially carry over into the summertime, making both the Russian men’s team miss the World Cup playoffs and the women’s Euro 2022 competition.

Spartak Moscow was also kicked out of the Europa League, while their opponents RB Leipzig will advance to the quarterfinals.

The UEFA had also ended its sponsorship with Russian energy giant Gazprom.

All eyes rest on the Russian Paralympic team, who, a week after arriving in Beijing, is not confirmed to play following recent events.

Despite Russia’s being represented in the Winter Olympics last month, and Ukraine’s team being allowed to compete, the IPC president Andrew Parsons is weighing all the takes from the committee, deeming it “open to a legal challenge from different sides.”

Ban going against what the message of Sports?
Ex-Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat spoke out against the Russian team ban, stating that “sport should remain outside politics”.

The 27-year-old, set to compete in the World Endurance Championship this year, expressed the exclusion of the teams would harm matters than to treat it, as Kvyat feels it goes “against what sport teaches us in principle: the unity and peace”, in which he expressed, he wishes would come from these matters.

Ukraine fights back with notable athletes in tow
On the other side, Ukrainian athletes are opting for defense, rather than peace. Professional boxers Vasiliy Lomachenko and Oleksandr Usyk, as well as tennis star Sergiy Stakhovsky joined the resistance against the Russian military. Lomachenko joined the Belgorod-Dnestrovsky Territorial Defense in hopes of activism.

That’s not all:

Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, famed boxers in their own right, had joined the cause. Wladimir, who enlisted in the reserve army last month, emphasized the urgency of the defenses, assuring “every hour counts” to the people of Ukraine.

The web of the Russia/Ukraine conflict is ongoing, stay tuned to Freewave for the news regarding the matter.