Russia slams alleged abuse at Turkey game
Date
3/30/2016 4:06:17 PM
Moscow:Russia's volleyball federation on Wednesday blasted alleged abuse from Turkish fans against a female team during a European final game in Istanbul after players said they had been pelted with garbage.
Tatiana Kosheleva an attacker from Dynamo Krasnodar wrote in an Internet posting that she and her teammates were targeted by ferocious abuse from the supporters and management of Galatasaray during Tuesday's game.
"Turkish fans behaved themselves terribly their words and gestures showed all of the hatred towards us. They threw garbage onto our heads from the stands" Kosheleva wrote on Instagram.
"When the head coach of Galatasaray showed his middle finger to me and our team's staff it became the biggest shock for me."
Russia's volleyball federation slammed the alleged incident during the first-leg match of the women's European Volleball Confederation (ECV) final match and said they would lodge a formal complaint.
"The unacceptable behaviour of local fans marred the impressions left by Dynamo's match in Istanbul" spokeswoman Irina Zolotova told AFP.
"We will definitely inform the ECV about the incidents" she said adding that the federation would use "video footage to corroborate its complaint."
Galatasaray won the first-leg match 3-2 (25-14 22-25 25-16 21-25 15-13) but Dynamo have a shot at claiming the trophy by winning the return leg match in Krasnodar on Saturday.
Relations between Russia and Turkey have been in tatters since Ankara downed one of Moscow's fighter jets on the border with Syria in November.
The incident sparked a bitter war of words between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and saw Moscow slap economic sanctions on Ankara.
Even the Kremlin weighed in to say it was monitoring the situation around the alleged abuse suffered by the Russian players.
"Of course this is information that we're watching closely" spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press.
Dynamo Krasnodar said they will beef up security measures at the return final match to avoid any possibility of new incidents.
"We will tighten up security on Saturday but I hope there will be no need for such measures" Olga Smityuk Dynamo press officer told AFP.
"I'm confident that our supporters will never disgrace themselves with any kind of inappropriate behaviour."
AFP