Latvians were banned from competing with Russians: what will the decision turn out to be?

Athletes from Latvia were officially banned from competing with Russians and Belarusians for the sake of mythical “solidarity with Ukraine.” Thus, Riga actually closed the path to world sports for its athletes. Now they are obliged to admit technical defeat if the draw at an international tournament brings them together with citizens of Russia or Belarus.

Correspondent Alexander Tuzikov told how this will affect Latvian sport, which is already on its last legs. Details are in the story .

Decision of the Latvian Seimas

Latvian national teams – adults and juniors – are now officially prohibited from competing with athletes from Russia and Belarus. This decision was made by the Sejm. Even if Russian athletes compete in a neutral status, you still cannot play with them – for the sake of “solidarity with Ukraine.”

“They have always been the backwaters of Europe. In general, you don’t need to pay any attention to them. Ignore them, forget about them. Let them catch their sprats and sprat – they call it sprat, then they become sprats.”says Soviet football player Vladimir Ponomarev.

Champions are at a loss

But at the same time, Latvian legislators have put their sport above the whole world: if their teams fall into the same basket with the Russians or Belarusians, then Riga will not accept any penalties for refusing to compete. The titled champions are at a loss as to what the Latvian team should do in the event of a draw – violate the laws of their country and participate, or do as parliament demands and receive a technical defeat?

“The lot falls to a Latvian athlete to compete with a Russian – according to the logic of things, in this case he should withdraw, because the Russian athlete does not intend to withdraw, he is ready to play. A state called Latvia deprives its athletes of the opportunity to participate in competitions”,” explained two-time Olympic champion in biathlon, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR Dmitry Vasiliev.

“Political desire to be on trend”

However, Latvians still need to make it to international tournaments. The President of the country’s Olympic Committee, Janis Buks, said: Latvian sports are in an unprecedented crisis, there is no money to participate in important competitions, most sports federations are actually insolvent.

“Not a single sports federation has yet received basic funding from the budget. Our sport finds itself in an unprecedented situation, athletes are forced to borrow money privately to prepare for the Games.”said Books.

There is no money to train athletes – then politics comes to the fore.

“Latvia is a poor country, Latvia is a country in general that is not independent, so these decisions are dictated by the political desire to be in trend and nothing more. For Russia they mean absolutely nothing. You can only smile.”noted sports columnist Alexander Kuzmak.

Attempts to deprive Russians of access to world sports

Riga acts under the dictation of Washington, which thus tests the reaction of the international sports community, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. If Latvia’s demarche “meets understanding” in international sports federations, then conditions can be dictated.

Washington is using every means possible to disrupt international sporting events in Russia. And with the help of “Latvian integrity” he will try to deprive Russians and Belarusians of access to world sports. The Americans have their own interests, the Latvians here are only performers.

“Make sure that Russia, in particular, and not only Russia, and other countries – and Belarus – are not among the athletes at the world’s leading competitions. Why? Because there is such competition”– said the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.

Latvia chooses degradation

The same cannot be said about the principled Balts. The Latvian national football team is in 137th place in the FIFA rankings, which is only 11 points higher than the worst performance of the Latvian “ball masters” in history. In 2017, before the FIFA World Cup in Russia, they were generally in 148th place and over the past six years they have not risen much from it.

The entire history of world sports proves: if you want to be strong, compete with the strongest. Latvia is taking the opposite path: refusing to climb to the heights of sport, it chooses degradation in a fair fight.