Elina Svitolina Supports Ukrainian Fencer Over Handshake Disqualification

| by Alex Waite

Elina Svitolina has requested sporting organisations to allow Ukranian athletes not to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents.

Svitolina's latest call came after the Ukrainian fencer, Olha Kharlan, was disqualified in a World Championship match for refusing to shake the hand of her Russian opponent, Anna Smirnova. The event comes amidst the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022, and has caused division within elite sports.

Since returning to the WTA Tour in April 2023 following the birth of her first child, Svitolina has always stood by her decision not to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian players. Once again, the Ukranian player took to Twitter to support her Ukranian compatriot after she was suspended from the fencing competition on Thursday.

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"We are not shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian athletes. That is our position! I call on international sports organisations and federations to respect our decision." 

Occasionally this season, Svitolina's decision not to shake hands with her competitors has caused controversy. At Wimbledon, the 28-year-old explained before her match with Victoria Azarenka that she would not be shaking hands and, once the match concluded, boos were directed towards the Belarusian player.

The high-profile incident was enough for the WTA to eventually release a statement on the matter during Wimbledon. In the statement, the governing body explained that it respected the Ukrainian players' choices to skip the customary post-match handshakes, which led to praise from Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka.

When responding to Svitolina's dedication not to shake the hands of her Russian and Belarusian opponents, fencer Kharlan told the Ukrainian press that the tennis player serves as an inspiration for other athletes from the Eastern European nation.

"Elina doesn't shake hands & ppl boo her. But I am very proud of her. We have to reach out to the world. To compete vs an aggressor-state ppl is tough mentally. But it is our duty to fight this way."

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