Russian athletes remain in a number of sports outside their homeland
Russian hockey star Valeri Nichushkin was a Stanley Cup last season. © AP Photo / Jack Dempsey
Russian athletes still have the chance to excel on the world stage in spite of the various sanctions placed upon the country’s sporting ambitions in the wake of the conflict in Ukraine.
Several sporting federations heeded calls from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to impose restrictions on Russia and its athletes following a recommendation in late February, in a move designed to limit Russia’s influence on global sports affairs.
Among the most prominent were the bans by UEFA and FIFA – the two bodies which oversee football in Europe and across the world respectively – which meant that the Russian men’s national team was barred from attempting to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
From canoeing to karate, a wide range of other sports have also restricted Russian participation, even preventing athletes from competing under neutral status.
But among all the sanctions, several sports continue to allow Russians to ply their various trades unencumbered by international punishments.
Ice Hockey
More than 40 players from Russia are counted among the rosters of the various National Hockey League (NHL) teams in the United States and Canada, including big-name stars such as Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Artemi Panarin, Nikita Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov, and prominent goaltending duo Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Forward Valeri Nichushkin was part of the Colorado Avalanche team which won the Stanley Cup last season, continuing a trend which means that at least one Russian has claimed the NHL’s top prize for each of the past seven seasons.
The NHL did cease several partnerships with Russian-based websites, as well as a deal with Yandex which was due to broadcast live NHL content, but league chiefs made clear that they had no quarrel with Russian players – who they said performed “on behalf of their NHL clubs, and not on behalf of Russia.”
More recently, Russia’s Yakov Trenin took to the ice in Prague last week at the league’s Global Series games designed to increase interest in developing markets – with officials from both teams, the San Jose Sharks and the Nashville Predators, stating in advance that they backed the rights of their Russian-born players.
Russians have already featured prominently as the new NHL season gets underway, with New York Rangers winger Panarin named Star of the Night for his performance in a win over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Tennis
Despite organizers at Wimbledon taking matters into their own hands by banning Russian and Belarusian players this year, elsewhere they have largely been free to play under neutral status at tournaments around the world – including the Grand Slams in Paris and New York, and are set to be present at the Australian Open in January.
Grand Slam title winner Daniil Medvedev has become a permanent fixture in the top five men’s rankings, even rising to top spot earlier this year, while compatriot Andrey Rublev is also inside the top ten. Karen Khachanov, a US Open semifinalist last month, occupies number 19 in the ATP charts.
In the women’s game, Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Liudmila Samsonova, and Anastasia Potapova are all currently inside the world top 50, while former French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is poised to make her comeback from injury ahead of the 2023 season.
Samsonova, who has three WTA titles to her name this year, suggested that her recent run of good form might be directly related to the sanctions placed on her and her compatriots by Wimbledon bosses.
“We are all very angry about the situation,” she said after beating Kaia Kanepi in the Citi Open final in August. “I mean, it was a really tough month.”
MMA
Russian athletes have long excelled in the cage and that has not changed in recent months.
Later this month, vaunted Dagestani lightweight Islam Makhachev will fight at the absolute summit of the sport when he takes on Charles Oliveira with the vacant UFC lightweight world title up for grabs, in a fight some herald as the fulfilment of a years-long prophecy for the 31-year-old.
On the very same card, UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi, another Russian star, Petr Yan, will fight surging American sensation Sean O’Malley in a high-stakes bout which could identify the next title challenger in the UFC’s 135lbs fold.
Elsewhere, giant Russian heavyweight Alexander Volkov headlined a UFC fight card in London less than a month after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine.
Fedor Emelianenko, perhaps the greatest heavyweight of all time, still remains relevant at the age of 46, even if the Ukraine conflict did rob him of plans by Bellator MMA for a retirement fight in Red Square.
Another giant Russian heavyweight, the 16-1 Sergei Pavlovich, will fight Australian Tai Tuivasa in a heavy-hitting slugfest in December, while the 18-1 light heavyweight Magomed Ankalaev will take on former champ Jan Blachowicz at UFC 282 in the same month.
Boxing
Now that Floyd Mayweather has retired, perhaps the biggest scalp available in professional prizefighting is that of Mexican legend Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez – and that is exactly what undefeated Russian standout Dmitry Bivol achieved when he outpointed Canelo in May to hand him just the second loss of his 62-fight career.
The only other man to achieve the same feat? Floyd Mayweather, and that was a majority decision compared to Bivol’s far more authoritative unanimous decision win.
Another Russian slugger, Artur Beterbiev, has also seen significant success this year, defeating Joe Smith Jr. by second-round knockout in Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in June to win the WBO light heavyweight title to add to the WBO and IBF crowns he already held.
Beterbiev will likely get another opportunity to impress early next year when he is tipped to fight Anthony Yarde in London, provided that the Briton emerges unscathed from a tune-up bout in November against an as-yet unnamed opponent.
Additionally on the amateur side of the sport, the prospect of further Russian success in the ring has been bolstered by the International Boxing Association (IBA) decision to lift its suspension on Russian and Belarusian boxers, which was initially imposed on the recommendation of the IOC earlier this year.
Decision to lift Russian boxing ban is example for all sport – official
Fighters from both countries will now be permitted to compete unimpeded under their own flags and anthems after the IBA announced in a statement this month that it “strongly believes that politics shouldn’t have any influence on sports.”
Football
While the Russian international and domestic calendar has been impacted by the decrees of both FIFA and UEFA, there are still Russian football representatives in Europe.
Aleksandr Golovin remains Russian football’s finest current export, with the 26-year-old creative playmaker a permanent fixture in a Monaco team which is six points behind Ligue 1 pacesetters Paris Saint-Germain.
The 45-times capped international has made 146 appearances for his club since Monaco pipped the likes of Chelsea to his signature from CSKA Moscow in the days after he shone for Russia in the 2018 World Cup.
Golovin (L) is Russia’s brightest current footballing export. © Matthieu Mirville / DeFodi Images via Getty Images
Another fixture of Russian football, Artem Dzuyba, is currently plying his trade in Türkiye but the former national team captain has been restricted to just a handful of appearances so far for league leaders Adana Demirspor.
Elsewhere, Russian international midfielder Alexey Miranchuk, 26, is at Italian Serie A side Torino on loan from Atalanta, and made a goalscoring debut before being sidelined with injury. He has returned for his team’s past two league matches.
Putin sends message to World Cup host
Also in Italy, Russian international and former Real Madrid and Valencia winger Denis Cheryshev is at Serie B team Venezia as they bid to return to the top flight.
On the coaching side of things, former Russian national team boss Stanislav Cherchesov is currently flying high in the Hungarian top division, with his Ferencvaros side leading the league with seven wins from their eight games so far this season.
However, the ongoing restrictions do seem to have impacted Russian football’s brightest young star, Dynamo Moscow teenager Arsen Zakharyan, who saw a move to Premier League club Chelsea fall apart this past summer due to ramifications of sanctions imposed against Russia by the United Kingdom.
Chess
Russian chess grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi, currently ranked third in the world, will challenge for the world title next year after winning the FIDE Candidates Tournament in Madrid back in July.
For Nepomniachtchi, 32, it will be the second time he has contested the top title in the chess world after he faced Magnus Carlsen last year, but ended up being well beaten by the Norwegian great.
Russia’s Nepomniachtchi booked another shot at the world title. © Miguel Pereira / Getty Images
Across the board from Nepomniachtchi next time will be China’s Ding Liren, who finished runner-up at the Candidates Tournament and is ranked number two in the world.
Ding was handed his title shot after five-time champion Carlsen declined to defend his crown, citing a lack of motivation amid reports that he wanted a change in the format of the showpiece.
Nepomniachtchi’s success at the Candidates Tournament came under a neutral flag after FIDE became another federation to take action against Russian and Belarusian players because of the conflict in Ukraine.
In addition to Nepomniachtchi, his compatriot Sergey Karjakin – who was handed an individual six-month ban earlier this year for his support of Russia’s military campaign – is currently ranked inside the world’s top 50 players, along with Alexander Grischuk and several others.
Russia also boasts two women inside the female world chess top ten, with former women’s world title challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina in second spot, and former world rapid and blitz champion Ekaterina Lagno in fourth.
Goryachkina (L) is Russia’s highest-ranked women’s chess star. © Foto Olimpik / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Lagno recently triumphed under a neutral flag in the first event of the 2022/23 FIDE Women’s Grand Prix series in Astana, where Goryachkina finished runner-up.
