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Russian bank promises to stand by Maria Sharapova, says Western brands abandoning her are cowards

Source: Interfax

Tinkoff Bank, the “second-largest player in the Russian credit-card market,” says it plans to support Maria Sharapova, who now finds herself at the center of a doping scandal.

Earlier this week, the bank's chairman criticized Western companies for cutting ties to Sharapova, after the tennis star (who's also the world's highest-paid female athlete) admitted to taking the recently banned drug meldonium. 

“One of my favorite female athletes got such a terrible gift on March 8,” Oleg Tinkoff said, referring to the day before International Women's Day. “Poor Masha. And the hypocrisy of the Western brands is astonishing. They haven't even understood the situation, but they're afraid of what their corporate bosses and shareholders will think, and they immediately dissolved their contracts! Masha, we're ready to support [you],” the banker said, adding, “We don't abandon our own.”

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