After cricket, another sport fell victim to politics and the controversy of not shaking hands with rival players reached the tennis court after the cricket field.
In the semi-finals of the Australian Open, world number one Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus defeated Elina Svetlina of Ukraine to reach the final, but the highlight of the match was the lack of handshakes between the two players.
According to the foreign news agency, it was announced before the match that the two players will not touch each other after the match and at the end of the match the two players actually walked away from each other and did not shake hands.
Ukrainian actress Elina Svetlina does not shake hands with actors from Russia and its allies like other Ukrainian actresses in the context of the Ukrainian war.
A distance was kept between the two players during the pre-match formalities and photographs.
In this competition played in a political environment, Iryna Sabalenka made it to the final with a strong performance. After the win, she praised Elina Svetlina, saying, ‘I’m happy with the win, she’s a tough opponent and she’s been playing great tennis all week.’
On the other hand, Elina Svetlina said that this break is small compared to the situation in her country Ukraine. “People in Ukraine live in terrible conditions, so I have no right to be so depressed,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that even the Indian cricket team players did not shake hands with the Pakistani players after the matches.
