Olympics 2024: Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev to play at Paris as neutral athlete, Andrey Rublev rejects the invite – CNBC TV18

Medvedev, who is a former World No.1 in the men’s singles tennis and 2021 US Open winner, will be participating at the Paris Summer Games along with compatriot omen’s world number 22 Ekaterina Aleksandrova,

The two tennis players are among the 31 Russian and Belarusians who will be participating at the Summer Olympics as neutrals. Russia and  Belarus will not be represented at the Olympics as the two nations have been barred from participating in any Olympic related activities after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

Neutral athletes will be competing at the Games without any flag or national anthems.   The athletes have been carefully vetted by an IOC panel to ensure they have no connection to the military.

Meanwhile, Tokyo doubles gold medallist Andrey Rublev and fellow tennis players Darya Kasatkina and Anna Kalinskaya are among 12 Russians and Belarusians who have turned down invitations to compete as neutral athletes at the Paris Olympics.

Russia has denounced the restrictions as discriminatory. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said the IOC was slipping “into racism and neo-Nazism”.

World number six Rublev, women’s world number 12 Kasatkina and number 18 Kalinskaya declined along with Tokyo singles silver medallist Karen Khachanov and Liudmila Samsonova, who had already turned down the opportunity to play.

U.S.-based Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who won a doubles gold and singles bronze in London in 2012, has accepted an invitation but Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka has not yet accepted or declined.

The Belarusian world number three pulled out of Wimbledon because of a shoulder injury on Monday and Russian Tennis Federation chief Shamil Tarpishchev said last month that Rublev would be skipping the Games for health reasons.

Gymnast Ivan Litvinovich, who won gold for Belarus in the trampoline in Tokyo three years ago, and Russian canoeist Alexey Korovashkov, a bronze medallist in London, were also among the athletes who have accepted the IOC’s invitations.

The Paris Olympics take place from July 26-Aug. 11 with the tennis tournament running from July 27-Aug. 4 at Roland Garros, the home of the French Open.

(with inputs from Reuters)