Ukrainian tennis player Oleksandra Oliynykova refused to shake hands with Hungarian rival Anna Bondar.
This happened during the WTA 250 tennis tournament in Romania. The Ukrainian won in two sets with a score of 6:4, 6:4 and reached the quarterfinals of the tournament for the first time in her career.
Before the match, she warned that she would not take part in the traditional joint photo and would not shake the hand of her Hungarian opponent Anna Bondar. In a comment to the portal "Big Tennis of Ukraine", Oliynikova recalled that Bondar traveled to the Russian Federation in December 2022 for a tournament and accepted payment from Gazprom funds.
"From a moral point of view, this is the same as going to play a tournament in Nazi Germany in 1941 and being rewarded with jewelry from Jews who were exterminated in the Auschwitz and Treblinka death camps. The same evil, only 80 years later," the Ukrainian athlete added.
Oliynikova added that she is ready to change her position on Bondar if she publicly condemns Russiaʼs war against Ukraine.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó reacted to this. He called Oliynikovaʼs behavior "outrageous and scandalous" and stated that sports and politics should not be mixed.
"No normal person in the world can believe that athletes are responsible for the decisions of politicians. The attempt to discredit Anna Bondar and the mention of Nazi parallels rather characterize the Ukrainian ʼathleteʼ herself," the Hungarian minister noted.
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