Sports News | Russia is Set to Avoid a Full Ban from the 2024 Paralympics in Paris
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. Russia appears to have avoided a full ban from next year's Paralympics in Paris after the International Paralympic Committee's members voted Friday against suspending the country's membership.
Manama (Bahrain), Sep 29 (AP) Russia appears to have avoided a full ban from next year's Paralympics in Paris after the International Paralympic Committee's members voted Friday against suspending the country's membership.
The IPC wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that members voted 74-65 against a motion to fully suspend Russia "for breaches of its constitutional membership obligations.” Thirteen more members abstained.
Another vote is scheduled later Friday on whether to “partially suspend” Russia. That could mean Russia sends competitors to the Paralympics, but that they have to compete as neutral athletes without national symbols.
Similar votes were also planned concerning Russia ally Belarus.
Athletes from Russia and Belarus arrived at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing in March 2022, about a week after Russian troops invaded Ukraine. They were excluded a day before the opening ceremony.
The IPC sought to include them as neutral athletes but reversed course after other countries said they would boycott. At the time, IPC president Andrew Parsons cited an “untenable” security situation in the athletes village.
The IOC favors letting Russians and Belarusians compete in international sports events as neutral athletes without national symbols as long as they aren't in the military and haven't publicly supported the war. The IOC says it hasn't made a decision on next year's Paris Olympics. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)