Daria Kasatkina receives national honour despite some outrage from local politicians

Russian Daria Kasatkina was awarded national honours only months after creating outrage among some politicians for coming out as gay.

Kasatkina publicly came out as gay during an interview with a Russian Youtuber expressing sadness that the country has a very negative perception of people who are not heterosexual. She confirmed two years ago that she identifies as bisexual but came out full over the summer. It's been a superb year for the Russian who performed consistently since the start of the season.

Due to that, she was awarded national honours from the Russian government, one of the highest national honours an athlete can receive in the country. It comes only months are several members of the State Duma criticized the Russian for coming out as well as some of her other comments.

Former Russian professional Yegveny Kafelnikov supported the decision to honour Kasatkina commenting:

"Deservedly. That's the way it should be. Who criticises her? A community that is nothing. And the other public, which understands everything, knows that this is all deserved. Daria has done a lot for the country.”