Sports world turns blue and yellow in support of Ukraine

By AFP 7 March 2022, 2:42 am

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Players draped in Ukraine flags, pledges of aid and placards demanding “No War” and “United in Peace,” as international sport turns blue and yellow in support of Ukraine.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic pledges financial support to Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, who has joined the fight to protect his country from the Russian invasion.

Stakhovsky, who famously beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2013, last week said he had signed up for Ukraine’s military reserves

Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska falls agonizingly short of a dream WTA title in Lyon, a week after escaping Russian bomb attacks on her home city of Odessa, but pledges to donate her prize money to support her besieged compatriots.

World number 140 Yastremska, who draped the Ukraine flag around her shoulders at every match , went down 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to 64th-ranked Zhang Shuai of China in today’s final.

Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska at a competition in Lyon, France on March 5, 2022. (Olivier Chassignole/AFP)

“The prize money I earn here, I’m going to give to the Ukrainian Foundation to support Ukraine,” the tearful 21-year-old tells the crowd. “I tried to fight for Ukraine.”

The MotoGP racing championship displays the words “United for peace” during its television broadcasts at the opening race of the season in Qatar.

Several riders also wore a “Give peace a chance” sticker on their helmets.

The Manchester City soccer team, which has three Ukrainian players in its squad, sports white T-shirts with the Ukrainian flag and the slogan “No War.” The same message also appears on the black T-shirts worn by United players during the minute of applause.

In Spain, Real Madrid soccer displays a Ukrainian flag with the message “All with Ukraine” at their Santiago-Bernabeu stadium before their match against Real Sociedad.

Several soccer clubs announc that they have made donations to charitable groups. Bayern Munich donates 100,000 euros to SOS-Children’s Village in Ukraine.

In the American NHL hockey league, the Seattle Kraken franchise invites Ukrainian singer Roman Vashchuk to perform his country’s anthem before the game against Nashville, receiving a long ovation.