Friends, today hearty congrats are due to the glorious Republic of Kazakhstan (the home of fictional character "Borat"). That's because Elena Rybakina, who plays for Kazakhstan, won the women's singles title at Wimbledon. Needless to say, that's the first time a Kazakh has won Wimbledon. Kudos! This is also, however, arguably a moral victory for Russia and the Russian people. Elena is ethnically Russian, you see, grew up in Russia, and played for Russia until 2018. Had she still been an officially "Russian" player in 2022, she wouldn't have been allowed to play at Wimbledon, because the All England Club prohibited Russian and Belarusian players from competing this year, to demonstrate its ire at Putin. Since Elena plays for Kazakhstan, however, she was let in. There's some small irony, therefore, in the fact that, in the year in which Russians were banned, a Russian seized the coveted trophy! Of course, tennis isn't political, or at least it needn't be. Elena played first-rate tennis, and so she won the crown. Good for her!
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/wimbledon-rybakina-tennis/2022/07/09/id/1078078/
Dr.Waddy from Jack: Oh gads, what powerful nonsense.!Shall we probe unto the politics of nations before accepting those troupes so accredited by them? By what standards?
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Indeed! I know "cancel culture" is all the rage, but if we take this nonsense too far sport will be impossible, because everyone sporting will be expelled from polite society for one infraction or another.
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