Ukraine cherishes “each single athlete we have now” as they is perhaps the nation’s “final star shining”, says former tennis participant Sergiy Stakhovsky.
The 37-year-old retired from tennis on the Australian Open in January 2022 to affix Ukraine’s reserve military.
“Ukraine, when it comes to sport, has been crippled for generations to return,” the 37-year-old advised BBC Radio 5 Reside.
Stakhovsky additionally criticised the choice to permit Russian athletes to compete as neutrals on the 2024 Olympic Video games.
Athletes from Russia and its key ally Belarus who’ve certified as people for subsequent 12 months’s Video games will compete with out flags, emblems or anthems of their nation.
This consists of opponents who have been beforehand banned following the invasion almost two years in the past, however groups representing the 2 nations is not going to function.
Talking from an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Stakhovsky, who famously beat Roger Federer in 2013 at Wimbledon, highlighted the variety of athletes from the nation who had misplaced their lives whereas preventing within the battle.
In line with the United Nations,, external no less than 10,000 civilians, together with greater than 560 youngsters, have been killed for the reason that Russian invasion started in February 2022.
“It is going to be very arduous for Ukraine to return again,” stated Stakhovsky.
“So we cherish each single athlete we have now competing as a result of we perceive that is perhaps our final star shining.”
Whereas different high-profile Ukrainian sport stars have spoken out in opposition to the battle, Stakhovsky feels extra Russian athletes ought to publicly condemn the invasion.
Russian tennis gamers Andrey Rublev and Daria Kasatkina have spoken out in opposition to the battle in recent times.
Rublev, 26, wrote an anti-war message on a digicam lens on the Dubai Tennis Championship in 2022, whereas Kasatkina, 26, referred to as for an finish to the preventing on a Russian video weblog in the identical 12 months.
“I do imagine that if all of the sports activities and all of the folks in Russia who’re in opposition to the battle can be the identical vocal as [Kasatkina] was, there can be a very completely different image,” Stakhovsky stated.
In December, Worldwide Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach stated “particular person athletes can’t be punished for the acts of their governments” as he defined the IOC’s determination for subsequent summer season’s Olympics in Paris.
Bach added that letting people compete was “respecting human rights”.
“It is an absolute joke, in my view,” stated Stakhovsky.
“[Russian athletes] all say they’re scared for his or her lives, for his or her households, however fact is nobody lives in Russia any extra. None of them reside in Russia.
“For me, they do not need to be a part of the criticism, they do not need to lose their followers again in Russia, so that they with roll it.
“We’ve to search for athletes who help, we have now to current proof to the Olympic committee, after which perhaps, in the event that they imagine that that is sufficient, they won’t enable these athletes to compete.”