Putin urges Russian athletes to fight to end in any situation - tennis federation president

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged Russian athletes to fight to the end in any situation referring to the 2016 Rio Olympics, President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpischev told TASS. On Wednesday, a meeting was held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi dedicated to preparations of Russian national teams for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, President of the Russian Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov and representatives of summer sports federations. "I personally liked the meeting. We talked with the president about preparations for the Olympics in Rio," Tarpischev said. "The main thing is that the president asked all of us to talk about problems, not about what has been done. He asked us to focus on weak points. The meeting was very productive, everyone had a chance to speak on the issue. Everything was very democratic. We outlined the existing problems. We aimed to make sure that athletes should fight to the end in any situation, as Vladimir Putin said. The result is desirable, but the main thing is that athletes should lend their souls to the task." "A certain aura is created around, it is clear what is happening in the world. And from this point of view, we should be strong in spirit," Tarpischev said. On Monday, an independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) published the results of a probe into the activities of the Russian Athletics Federation, the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and the Russian Sports Ministry. WADA’s independent report contains numerous indictments of Russian officials and individual athletes as well as a call to disqualify the national athletics federation. That can bar Russian athletes from competing at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Read more