Russian sports federation, players and officials are in jeopardy at the moment and the reason is something which we all know and don’t need to think twice as their invasion of Ukraine has been several condemned by International federation.
Recently FIFA and World Rugby Federation sanctioned ban on all Russian players, officials and the latest to join the bandwagon is ESL who recently stated that all the Esports team apparently have tie up with Russian Government including individuals or organization will be not allowed to compete in Pro League events.
“organizations with apparent ties to the Russian government, including individuals or organizations under alleged or confirmed EU sanctions related to the [Ukrainian] conflict,”
“We are all shocked and saddened by the Russian invasion into Ukraine and hope for a swift and peaceful resolution,” ESL said in a statement. “After monitoring the situation, we are now putting an initial set of actions in place.
“Together with our partners and employees, we are currently working on actions to support the people suffering from the current tragedy with donations to UNHCR, paid time off for employees to volunteer for humanitarian relief and paid time off for affected colleagues.”
“Two teams, Virtus.pro and Gambit, have thus far been identified for exclusion. Rather like the Olympics, however, players from those teams will be allowed to take part in events “under a neutral name, without representing their country, organization or their teams’ sponsors on their clothing or otherwise.”ESL official added.
However Virtus pro and Gambit is still to comment on this suspension, also they stated formally they have not received any letter from organizers like Gamer Galaxy: Dota 2 Intternational series which will be held in Dubai and they have also blamed “Ukranians” for putting pressure on different sports federation to ban Russian players in different gaming domains.
“A lot of Russian/CIS clubs are under a lot of pressure right now,” the team said. “Some tournament operators are already conducting a witch hunt. We urge them to stop and not reflect on traditional sports, where politics run the show. Esports is beautiful in its diversity: People from different countries and of different descent could be playing together under one tag, and territorial affiliation is only measured in ping and timezones.”
“Virtus.pro will not fall for this intimidation. We won’t take off our jerseys and won’t tolerate this pressure.”
With the way teams are saying no to play against Russia whether it is football, rugby and you never know with the way things are developing between Russia and Ukraine you would not be surprised to see Russia competing in marquee events under organizers banner rather than representing their country.
