Russia and its ally Belarus have had their International Paralympic Committee (IPC) membership suspended following an appeal, but their athletes remain banned from competitions organized by the IPC.
The IPC said on Friday that an independent appeals tribunal had ruled that IPC members should have obtained additional evidence before voting to suspend the two nations’ Paralympic federations in November, following the invasion. Russian in Ukraine.
IPC President Andrew Parsons said this “is a decision we respect, although we disagree with it”.
The IPC noted that the decision was made due to a “technical technicality” related to the fact that certain evidence presented in court was not available when the vote took place last year.
The file will have to be reassessed by the members of the CIP in September. It was already planned to look again at the question of the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the run-up to the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024.
The court’s decision does not affect the IPC’s policy of banning the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in competitions in the six sports it directly governs. They include track and field, sledge hockey and swimming.
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