Olympic champion in volleyball Sergei Tetyukhin estimated as a misunderstanding the fact of assigning players to the national football team the title of Honored Masters of Sports (ZMS). In his opinion, for this it was not enough to get only to the 1/4 finals of the World Cup.

"If they were in the foursome, I would have been hands and feet for such a decision, but now, of course, it turned out to be an incident. It was necessary to note the nature of our players, but with some other awards, "- said in an interview with" Business Online "titled athlete. Golden Champion of London 2012 believes that giving the title of ZMS football players is incorrect in relation to our other athletes who do not receive awards for entering the quarterfinals. In late July, the silver medalist of the Olympic Games (Sydney-2000 and Athens-2004) and two-time world volleyball champion Ekaterina Gamova severely criticized in her Instagram the awarding of players from the Russian national team who made it to the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time since the collapse of the USSR. According to her, such a step depreciates the title of ZMS. At the same time, she noted that she has no claims to the players themselves, but only to the leadership of the Ministry of Sport. The volleyball player was then supported by the two-time Olympic champion in figure skating Maxim Trankov, the Olympic champion in volleyball Dmitry Musersky, the silver medalist of the 2016 Olympics cyclist Daria Shmeleva, the former football player of the Russian national team Yevgeny Aldonin. "I agree with Gamow, because she knows what she's saying, and I know what I'm saying. Of course, the performance of football players is a great joy, but it has nothing to do with the award of the title of Honored Masters of Sports. I think it's impossible to depreciate the work of people and get them rewards. Athletes earn every recognition of hard work and outstanding victories, "- commented on the opinion of the volleyball player, the great coach Tatyana Tarasova. But the Russian Minister of Sports Pavel Kolobkov called what is happening around the football players getting the title of ZMS "sensation". He noted that not every athlete is able to "take out so many people on the streets, deliver so much joy to football fans and those who used to be indifferent to him".

And therefore, ranks are worthy even those who sat on the bench.