Russian woman Tamara Tansykkuzhina defended the title of world champion in drafts, beating the Polish athlete Natalia Sadovskaya, reports “Sport-Express”.
The final kicked off on 23 April in Warsaw. After nine rounds of confrontation, the score was equal – 54:54. Then two games in rapid checkers and three games in blitz ended in a draw, the Russian woman won in the fourth game in blitz.
42-year-old Tansykkuzhina became a seven-time world champion. Sadovskaya, 29, is a two-time world champion.
On April 27, during the match between Tansykkuzhina and Sadovskaya, 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.
On April 28, President of the Polish Drafts Federation Damian Reshka 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 (WADA) could exclude the International Drafts Federation.
At the same time, the Polish side showed loyalty to Russia and also removed its flag, so both athletes continued to play without a flag on both sides.