Olympic figure skating champion Alexei Yagudin spoke about the sports citizenship switch of Alexander, the 13-year-old son of renowned Russian expert Evgeni Plushenko, to the Azerbaijan national team.

Offsideplus.az reports that Yagudin considers this transition a completely normal occurrence in the sports world:

"I feel that nothing supernatural has happened. In figure skating, we have long been accustomed to athletes switching to other flags. It is a common practice, like moving from one club to another in football. Yes, we are talking about citizenship here, which is why the reaction is more emotional. I can understand people. The increased attention to this story is primarily linked to the Plushenko surname and the popularity of Sasha himself. But he is only 13 years old, he has a huge career ahead of him, and anything can happen during this time.

Not long ago, as a whole country, we were rooting for Ilia Malinin, who represents the USA, and we still perceive him as one of our own. Therefore, the decision of a 13-year-old athlete to represent Azerbaijan for the sake of international competitions does not look out of the ordinary. I have seen how Sasha works in shows and with what dedication he performs. In any case, I wish him luck. And we will root for him, just as we rejoiced at the successes of both Malinin and Mikhail Shaidorov."