Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stripped 23-year-old Ukrainian diver and multiple European champion Sofia Lyskun of her scholarship.
This is stated in the decree on the presidentʼs website.
Liskun has been receiving a presidential scholarship since April 2025. In November, it became known that the athlete had left for Luhansk and changed her Ukrainian citizenship to Russian.
According to her, she didnʼt care which country she played for, and Ukrainian coaches didnʼt understand water sports, which hindered her development. During her time as a member of the Ukrainian national team, Liskun won 11 medals at the European Championships and one award at the World Championships.
Sofia Liskun at the 2024 European Championships.
xsport.ua
She also explained her decision by the "incompetence of Ukrainian coaches" and stated that she was allegedly forbidden to communicate with former coach Olga Feoktistova.
In early December, Sofia Liskun published a photo from Moscow.
The Ukrainian Diving Federation called the athleteʼs decision to move to the Russian Federation "categorically unacceptable". Sofia was expelled from the national team and stripped of all awards and titles she had won while competing for Ukraine.
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