The organisers banned Ukrainian participants of the World Ballroom Dance Championships from attending the presentation ceremony with their flag. The World Cup took place on April 16 in Moldova.

According to the local edition of NewsMaker, citing Ukrainian World Cup participant Victoria Ursatiy, the dancers refused to attend the gala event that preceded the tournament.

On her Instagram, Ursatiy said that she tried to persuade the organisers, explaining that there was a war going on in Ukraine and they could not do without the flag, but it was all in vain. The video with the Ukrainian dancer's appeal garnered a million views, but then our compatriot closed access to her Instagram.

Later, Ursatiy posted a video with the national flags, with the yellow and blue cloth in the very corner.

"When there is a war in your country, people are dying and soldiers are dying, we cannot remain silent and go to the main ceremony of representing countries at international competitions without a flag. Our task as athletes is to make sure that people abroad do not forget that the war is ongoing, that our flag is seen and remembered," NewsMaker quoted the athlete as saying.

Ursatiy explained why Ukrainian athletes "did not swallow this situation".

"People still believe that the presence of Russians and Belarusians at the Olympics is a sport outside of politics. But it shouldn't be like that," she was quoted as saying by the Moldovan media.

The publication also cites a comment from the Moldovan Sports Dance Federation's Petru Gozun. He said that all athletes, according to the amendments made in early 2023 to the regulations for such competitions, must come to the presentation ceremony without flags, but with country plates. According to him, WDSF officials informed the athletes from Ukraine about this.

As a result, Victoria and Vladislav Urastiy took part in the competition but did not reach the final. Ukrainian juniors were among the winners. They came to the award ceremony with the flag.

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