Russian coach: “Soon they will dictate to us what laces to use”
Politics should not interfere in sporting events, as happens all the time today.
This was stated by former head coach of the Russian national hockey team Vladimir Krikunov in an interview with Izvestia, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
He was asked about an incident during the ongoing World Hockey Championship in Riga, where the authorities tore down the Belarusian flag and replaced it with the flag used by nationalists.
“Well, this is completely stupid. We have the World Hockey Championship. How are all these political stories related to him? Why did you get into hockey? No one is changing the Latvian flag to the Soviet one, no matter what they do or what they say. Why bring politics into this? They drag her to sports all the time. First with the taking away of the World Cup from Minsk, now with the flag. Let the teams play hockey, and don’t get involved in it. As in the case of Russia, which was forced to play with incomprehensible symbols on its chest,” the coach said.
According to him, “all politics has already been dragged into sports.”
“I don’t know, soon they will dictate to us what laces to tie our shoes with. They will also get to the bottom of them. Now they're meddling with every little thing. Yes, there is a story with this plane. As I understand it, there is a struggle for power there. But everyone has the right to fight for it. The Americans are seizing our people from another country, taking them to the USA and putting them in prison. And what? Everyone is silent and won’t say a word. So what can I say? There are double standards all around. I don't know what else to say. Some kind of baby talk.
Well, you took down the flag. What's next? Why are you better? Let the teams play. It's a good, interesting championship. Canada loses, Sweden, Czech Republic. And Russia too. When did this happen? And the matches themselves are interesting, with good fighting. I personally enjoy watching this. This is what I advise the audience to do, but some officials are doing something I don’t understand,” says Krikunov.
For more on the flag scandal and its sequel, see " Political Hockey: Belarus and Latvia Mutually Expel All Ambassadors"
Russian coach: "Soon they'll tell us which laces to use."