Moscow--International Tennis Federation president Francesco Ricci Bitti was blasted Wednesday for saying he saw no problems with Crimean players turning out for Russia.
The ITF chief told ITAR-TASS news agency he considered the peninsula to be part of the Russian Federation.
"Crimea is a part of Russia," the agency quoted Ricci Bitti as saying.
"Crimean tennis players can without any problems play for Russia's national teams and represent the country at any tournaments. I do not see a problem here."
Last year Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine with a disputed referendum on March 16, 2014 showing more than 97 percent of Crimeans in favour of joining Russia.
Ricci Bitti's comments drew criticism from the tennis community.
"Looks like Ricci-Bitti lost his moral judgment. I hope that @ITF_Tennis will apologize for his nonsense commentary regarding #Crimea," tweeted top Ukraine player Sergiy Stakhovsky.
AFP
