BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 24. The Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan has issued a statement in connection with the provocation of an athlete of Armenian origin against Azerbaijan at the Australian Open, Trend reports, citing the ministry.
The statement says that during the game, which took place on January 20 as part of the ongoing Australian Open Grand Slam, Russian athlete of Armenian origin Karen Khachanov, after defeating his opponent, contrary to the rules of conduct of the International Tennis Federation and this tournament, staged a provocation and tried to politicize the tradition of tennis players playing in international tournaments.
It was noted that this action was repeated.
Regarding the incident, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Azerbaijan Tennis Federation have addressed to the relevant organizations in Russia, as well as to the International Tennis Federation and the organizers of the Australian Open, demanding to penalize the tennis player for these provocative actions and to prevent the recurrence of such situations.
It was promised that the issue would be investigated by the relevant departments of Russia and the athlete would be given a verbal warning.