Russia is pressing ahead with plans to host their own Paralympic events after being banned from competing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics.
The Winter Paralympics is already underway in China’s capital but no Russian or Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia and Belarus’ teams for Beijing 2022 were initially set to compete as neutrals despite the ongoing invasion of Ukraine but the International Paralympic Committee, IPC, received a backlash for their decision and just a day later ruled they would be completely banned from competing.
However, it seems Russia still wants to give the athletes a stage to compete on and will run their own series of Paralympic events as a replacement with Khanty-Mansiysk looking the most likely destination to host.
‘We have everything necessary to organise fair and bright competitions for Paralympic athletes in all sports presented in the programme of the Games in Beijing,’ Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said, as reported by Russian state-run news agency TASS.
‘Sports results will be recorded at the tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk, records will be celebrated, and medals to winners and prize-winners.
‘Athletes should not be deprived of the sports festival for which they have been preparing for several years.
‘It is also necessary to maintain the amount of remuneration for winners and prize-winners, as planned at the end of the Games in Beijing – RUB 4 million (£31,000) for a gold medal, RUB 2.5 million (£19,000) for silver and RUB 1.7 million (£13,000) for bronze, as well as payments to coaches and specialists, it is important that the competition will be held with the Russian flag and anthem and in an atmosphere of full support.’
It’s been suggested the new event will take place in mid-March while Sochi was previously discussed as an option.
Sports Minister of Russia Oleg Matytsin says the IPC’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes was ‘absolutely unfair’ and expects the new events to still be contested at the ‘highest level.’
‘It was fundamentally important for us to organise these competitions for our Paralympic athletes, with regard to the Russian Paralympic team, and absolutely unfair decision was made to remove them from the Paralympic Games,’ Matytsin said, as reported by TASS.
‘Russian athletes have been preparing and training for a long time, overcoming all obstacles on the way to their dream and now they will be able to demonstrate to the whole world, in what excellent shape they are and what high results they achieve in a fair fight, we believe that sport should always be a symbol of friendship and unity.
‘I am sure that the competitions in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug will be held at the highest level.’
Source: Metro
