“If I were an athlete, if that’s how they treat our state ... if you don’t raise the flag of your state, then I would voluntarily refuse any competition,” RIA Novosti quoted Kadyrov as saying.
He expressed confidence that the United States is to blame for this situation, since they, he said, are trying to undermine the situation inside Russia.
“Athletes from all over the world should come together and make statements that this is unfair. The same thing can happen to them tomorrow, ”Kadyrov added.
On December 9, the WADA executive committee suspended Russia from international competitions for four years, and also forbade it from holding international tournaments. In addition, the participation of Russian athletes in competitions only in neutral status was recommended.
This is due to the identification of intentional changes in the data of the Moscow laboratory, the transfer of which in its original form was one of the key conditions for restoring RUSADA compliance status with the World Anti-Doping Code.
Earlier, three-time world champion in gymnastics Nikita Nagorny commented on WADA’s decision to deprive Russian athletes of the opportunity to fly under the national flag.