MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/. Russia’s national table tennis players will be competing in all scheduled international tournaments, President of the Table Tennis Federation of Russia (TTFR) Alexander Babakov told TASS on Friday.
The World Table Tennis (WTT) announced a decision earlier to reinstate participation of Russian players at international tournaments under the national flag and to the tune of the country’s anthem.
"If resorting to political terms, the return of the flag and anthem [to Russia] was an expected and obvious decision, which is linked to the fact that Western officials were enlightened and finally realized that sports should remain beyond politics," Babakov noted.
"Regarding particular issues stemming from this decision, there are now no present-day restrictions for us and we are now able to participate everywhere. Not only at the European Championships, but also at all other international competitions," the chief of the Russian table tennis federation added.
Today, Russian athletes compete in the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Almaty tournament, which runs through September 6. Russian players also gear up to participate in the WTT Champions Macao (September 8-13), WTT Star Contender Astana (September 15-20), and China Smash (October 1-11) tournaments.
The Smash and Champions tournaments are the most prestigious on the WTT calendar. After that, Russia is set to take part in the European Championship, which will be held in Slovenia from October 11 to 18.
