The opening ceremony of the Paralympics in 2016

© EPA/SIMON BRUTY

MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Russian athletes will not be able to compete under a neutral flag at the Paralympic games in 2018 without the restoration of the rights of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RCC). About TASS said the President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Philip Craven.

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“According to the rules of the IPC governing the conduct of the Paralympic games in Pyeongchang, individual athletes cannot participate in competition under a neutral flag, if their national Paralympic Committee discharged, said Craven. We also note the recent statement of the Minister of sports of Russia Pavel Kolobkov, in which he expressed disagreement with the decision about the participation of Russian athletes in competitions under a neutral flag. Our focus now is on helping the RCC in the implementation of the criteria for restoration of membership of the organization. We hope that RCC will be restored as soon as possible, and we can observe the performance of Russian athletes at international competitions, particularly the Paralympic winter games in Pyeongchang”.

IPC 7 August 2016 has suspended the membership of RCC on the basis of the investigation data from the report of the independent Commission of the world anti-doping Agency (WADA) under the leadership of Richard McLaren. In November, IPC announced the list of criteria for restoration of RCC membership.

In late January, the IPC has denied RCC’s request to allow Russian athletes to participate in qualifying for the Paralympic games in 2018. Currently only Russian Curling players can participate in the qualifying competition to the Games in 2018.

Winter Paralympic games will be held in Pyeongchang from 9 to 18 March 2018.

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