Disqualification of Lithuanian woman at the World Fitness Championships was achieved by the father of an athlete from Russia

On December 14, the father of Russian athlete Karim Yanchinov Samir said that he personally achieved the disqualification of Lithuanian athlete Kornelia Dudaite because of her anti-Russian T-shirt at the World Championships in functional fitness.

Earlier in the day, the Lithuanian athlete went to the competition in a T-shirt with the inscription "Let's make Russia small again", the same one worn by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (whose term of office expired on May 20). The girl wanted to show her civic position, as she did not like the way the organizers greeted and cheered Russian athletes. However, they found it unacceptable and asked the Lithuanian girl to change her clothes. As a result of the refusal, the girl was disqualified, later it became known that the national team withdrew from the championship.

"I considered it an anti-Russian demarche, personally informed the organizers - the International Federation of Functional Fitness. The organizing committee promptly notified the Lithuanian that she must immediately change her jersey to another, not provoking. <...> She refused to do so <...> Thank you for the fair decision of the organizing committee of the World Championships," RIA Novosti quoted the man as saying.

Samir Yanchinov added, the competition should not be an arena for political battles. However, he said, the Lithuanian media and the Western press quickly made the girl a heroine.

The Lithuanian Federation of Functional Fitness, commenting in its social networks on what is happening, said that the national team decided to withdraw from the World Championships in Budapest because of the organizers' negligent attitude to the "neutral flag" policy under which Russian athletes performed.

Russian sport is under tremendous pressure from the West. Athletes have been suspended in many sports, and where they do compete, they compete without a flag. In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the current times challenging, including for sports. However, he added that Russia is and will be a great sports power.