Pressure mounts to stop Russian athletes competing at Beijing Winter Paralympic Games
The International Paralympics Committee is set to meet over a possible ban for Russian athletes ahead of the Winter Paralympic Games.
The committee will meet on Wednesday to make a decision on whether Russian athletes will be banned from the games set to hold in Beijing, China.
This is as a result of mounting pressure on the committee to ban Russia and its athletes after the Russian government invaded Ukraine last week.
The International Olympics Committee yesterday called for Russian athletes in all sports to be barred from participating and the upcoming winter games has now become a major talking point.
Russia has 71 athletes who are registered to compete in the Winter Paralympic games while Ukraine’s 20 athletes are yet to arrive in China as a result of the ongoing conflict in their home country.
Craig Spence, a spokesperson for the committee, said, “We’re aware of the views of everyone.
“Clearly, we’d love the focus to be on sport, but at the moment that’s not the focus.
“We’re in regular dialogue with Ukraine and we’re working hard behind the scenes to get them here. The health and welfare of the delegation is our priority.”
In what could be a major potential issue, it is expected that most nations would refuse to compete against Russian athletes at the games if they are allowed to participate.
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