[1/11] Russian national beach football team's forward Fedor Zemskov attempts a bicycle kick during a practice session, at a training camp, held ahead of the Nations Cup 2023 four-team international tournament in Moscow, Russia, July 18, 2023. That applies to beach football too and, while the ban is clearly negative for Russia, captain Anton Shkarin believes the wider game has also suffered. "When you disconnect a national team such as ours, the class falls immediately," he told Reuters at a training session in Moscow. "We communicate well with the guys from Europe who play and everyone is upset that we're banned." Reporting by Alexey Petrov; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Ken FerrisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Persons: Fedor Zemskov, Maxim, Anton Shkarin, we're, Mikhail Likhachev, Stanislav Kosharnyi, Alexey Petrov, Alexander Marrow, Ken Ferris Organizations: Nations, REUTERS, soccer, UEFA, FIFA, Reuters, United Arab Emirates, Games, Thomson Locations: Russian, Moscow, Russia, Ukraine MOSCOW, Ukraine, Europe, St Petersburg, Iran, Senegal, Belarus, Brazil, India, China, South Africa