From Russia comes a gesture that some teams participating in the bandy championship did not like at all, a sport very similar to ice hockey practiced mainly in Northern Europe (it is played on a larger field, with 11 players and a ball instead of the disc). Before the start of their respective games, the players formed a ‘Z’ on the field, which is the letter symbolizing the Russian tanks that have invaded and are setting fire to Ukraine.
The protagonist teams of the episode are Ska Neftyanik, Dinamo Moscow, Vodnik and Kuzbas: the first two also have ties for several years with the political regimes that first ruled the Soviet Union and now Russia. The Ska Neftyanik is the result of the merger of SKA, acronym of Sporting Klube Army (the army club) and Neftyanik, supported by the company that exploits oil in Khabarovsk, the city in the far east, a few kilometers from the Chinese border, where it was founded in 1947. Dinamo Moscow, on the other hand, is the oldest sporting entity in the territory, which will celebrate its centenary next year, and is considered the team of the Ministry of the Interior and during the Cold War it was associated with the KGB (State Security Committee).
Numerous reactions of indignation from the sporting world and beyond, many are now asking for the suspension for life for all the athletes who took part in the initiative. Some are also expecting measures from the International Bandy Federation. An episode that comes a week after that of the Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak, who, during the World Cup awards ceremony in Doha, climbed the podium showing the same ‘Z’.