A foreigner who carried the Russian flag to the Australian Open match said he did not incite hatred
Australian fan Eugene Rothman, who carried the Russian flag to the Australian Open match, explained his act. It is reported by Sport24.
According to the foreigner, he did not try to incite hatred. “It must be remembered that many years ago the people of this flag – Russian men and women – fought Nazism and defeated it. If not for this, the whole world would now speak German and Japanese, ”Rothman said.
Earlier it became known that the fan was born in Moscow, but at the age of five he moved to Australia with his family. Eugene Rothman is now 36 years old.
During the match of the first round of the Australian Open between Russian Kamilla Rakhimova and Ukrainian Katerina Beindl, which took place on January 16, Rothman hung out the Russian flag. This caused dissatisfaction among Ukrainian fans. Rakhimova lost to her opponent with a score of 5:7, 7:6 (10:8), 1:6.
After that, the Australian Tennis Federation banned fans from bringing Russian and Belarusian flags to the stands due to complaints from Ukrainian spectators. The organizers recalled that initially fans from Russia and Belarus could bring flags, but they were forbidden to wave them so as not to interfere with other fans.
Source: Lenta
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