Russian and Belarus athletes were given the chance to compete in the upcoming Winter Paralympics on Wednesday, which begin this week in the shadow of Moscow’s invasion of Moscow. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged sports federations around the world to exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus, where troops were present before the invasion. But on Wednesday, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) held a meeting and released a brief statement saying that athletes from the two countries would be allowed to compete as “neutrals”.
“They will compete under the Paralympic flag and not be included in the medal table,” the commission said. Much of the sports world has responded in solidarity with Ukraine.
FIFA kicked Russia out of the 2022 World Cup, while rugby’s world governing body banned Russia and Belarus from all international events “until further notice.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, an experienced judoka, was also suspended as honorary head of the International Judo Federation.
– Ukraine team on the way –
With civil airspace closed, half a million refugees fleeing to neighboring countries and Russian troops approaching Kiev, getting the Paralympians from Ukraine to Beijing could be logistically difficult.
IPC president Andrew Parsons last week said it would be a “major challenge”, and declined to comment further on security grounds.
But late Tuesday, Ukraine’s National Sports Committee for the Disabled confirmed that its full team of 20 athletes and nine guides were on their way to the Games.
“I hope we’ll be in Beijing tomorrow, March 2,” said Natalia Garach, the team’s communications manager.
The small Eastern European country has surpassed its weight at previous Paralympic winter events, with frequent podium finishes in the biathlon and ski events.
The delegation took home 22 medals in 2018 – including seven golds – and thus took sixth place in the world ranking.
For some team members, the emotional rollercoaster and distorted focus will be a case of deja vu.
During the Russian organization of the 2014 Winter Paralympics, Ukrainian athletes had to struggle with Moscow’s takeover of the Crimean peninsula.
– ‘Positive legacies’ –
The sporting action kicks off Saturday as more than 650 athletes from 49 countries compete in 78 events across six sports: ice hockey, snowboarding, biathlon, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing and wheelchair curing.
Like last month’s Olympics, events will be held in a strict coronavirus bubble and ticket sales to the public have been canned – although hand-picked spectators who are socially distancing will be watching in some venues.
At last month’s Winter Olympics, Beijing celebrated a record nine gold medals, narrowly beating the United States.
China has consistently led the medal tally at the past Summer Paralympics.
But the Winter Paralympics medal didn’t come until 2018 — a gold in wheelchair curling — and it hopes its biggest ever team of 96 athletes will take more podiums this year.
Chinese social welfare expert Xiaoyuan Shang said hosting the Paralympic Games this year will build on the “positive legacies” left over from the last time the Games were held in China.
That includes “making people with disabilities more self-confident, reducing discrimination and stigma against people with disabilities in China, improving accessible facilities in cities and changing social attitudes,” she told AFP.
More than 13,000 specialized fitness centers for people with disabilities have opened in recent years, according to the China Disabled Persons’ Federation.
promoted
China has also been working on accessibility since November 2019: installing wheelchair ramps, tactile paving for the visually impaired and improving access to public transport.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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