Ukrainian athlete Oleksandr Usyk was detained at the Krakow airport after he and his coach were denied boarding - an airline representative decided they were "unfit for travel," ESPN writes citing its sources, UNN reports.
Details
Usyk and his trainer were detained after he tried to board a plane to Valencia, Spain, where he was to begin preparations for his rematch with Tyson Fury on December 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. An ESPN source said that Usyk and his trainer Sergey Lapin were denied boarding because an airline representative decided they were unfit to travel.
The boxer tried to explain that everything was fine and they were just exhausted after a 14-hour journey. However, due to the language barrier, the situation could not be resolved immediately.
Later, Usyk commented on his detention on Instagram.
"Everything is fine, I'm free. There were some misunderstandings. I would like to thank the Ukrainian delegation and the Ukrainian ambassador to Poland, personally our President, who was very concerned about this and personally resolved this issue."
The athlete's coach also commented on the detention. In a story on his Instagram page, Serhiy Lapin saidthat customs officers "exceeded their authority" and that this resulted in the detention.
Polish promoter Andrzej Wasilewski also reacted to the incident.
As can be seen from the further development of the situation with Usyk, the arrest and handcuffing of the champion was completely unnecessary and wrong. It is very good that the champion himself downplays this topic in the media and treats all people and institutions with respect
"Усика відпустили і більше його ніхто не затримує", — Зеленський18.09.24, 00:07