The Russian Drafts Federation (RCF) intends to protest the results of the scandalous game between the Russian woman Tamara Tansykkuzhina and Natalia Sadovskaya from Poland at the Women’s World Drafts Championship in connection with the incident with the Russian flag. On April 28, the head of the FShR Anatoly Nikitin told Izvestia about this.
“We, the FSR, will gather this week an extraordinary presidium and most likely challenge the results of this party. Let’s get together online. We have 14 members of the Presidium, they will vote by a majority for the adoption of the appeal. He will be sent to the International Drafts Federation (FMJD), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the Polish Drafts Federation, ”he said.
This match was postponed from 2020, when WADA did not yet have sanctions against Russia on the use of national symbols, Nikitin explained. Therefore, the FMJD and the Polish Drafts Federation had a calculation that WADA would allow the use of Russian symbols, since the event was from the previous period, and the law does not have retroactive effect, Nikitin added.
“On April 23, WADA received an order to remove the Russian symbols, respectively, the Polish side did not have time to remove them, the money was spent, the advertising materials were printed and everything was hung with Russian flags,” he said.
The day before, on April 27, during the women’s World Drafts Championship match between Sadovskaya and Tansykkuzhina, the Russian flag was removed from the table. At this moment, the Russian woman was thinking about her move, what happened distracted her and was very surprised. The incident also sparked outrage among Russian Internet users.
According to Nikitin, the only one who, according to the rules, could approach the playing table, is the referee. However, the flag was removed by the former president of the European Drafts Federation Jacek Pawlicki.
On April 28, President of the Polish Drafts Federation Domian Reszka apologized for the situation with the Russian flag. He noted that the demand to remove the tricolor appeared immediately during the game. If this had not been done, the World Anti-Doping Agency threatened to exclude the International Drafts Federation.
At the same time, the Polish side showed loyalty to Russia and also removed its flag, so now both athletes play without a flag on both sides, concluded Nikitin.