(by Steve Hopkins)

Its been over a year since Russia invaded Ukraine.  The response of the international sports community at that time was not just to isolate Russia and Belarus as countries, but also to ban individual players from those countries from competing in international events.  At the end of March, after a full year of bans, the IOC backed off of their position and agreed to allow individual Russian and Belarusian players to compete again.  The ITTF has followed the lead of the IOC and have announced that these players may again compete in international table tennis events as well.

The ITTF reiterated that they are against the war in Ukraine, and that they stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine (and the table tennis community there) – but they took action to allow players to participate in international events beginning this month.

In addition, the ITTF has kept sanctions in place against government and state officials, and against national symbols and flags.  They also referenced the historic Ping Pong Diplomacy and indicated a hope that table tennis could help bring people together.

Still, the end result is a softening of the stance from the ITTF despite the continuation of the war.  Many other organizations who have made similar decisions have seen threats of boycotts from Ukrainian athletes and others who support them.  This is true in Judo and swimming and diving specifically, and Ukraine’s Sports Minister has issued a threat to boycott next year’s Summer Olympic Games if Russian and Belarusian athletes are permitted to participate (provided that a full peace has not been achieved).

View the full ITTF announcement here.

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