Sport’s highest court on Tuesday upheld a decision by the International Paralympic Committee to exclude the sports superpower.
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Russian Federation has lost its appeal to the committee against a ban slapped on it for apparently mandating a state-sanctioned doping program for almost all of its national athletes -including Paralympics athletes according to a recent BBC news report.
The legal team representing Russian Paralympians in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is still working on legal avenues that might enable the Russian team compete in the Paralympic Games due to be held in Rio on September 7-18, with specific proposals due to be announced in the coming days, Alexey Karpenko said.
According to the Committee their decision to give an all out ban “was proportionate in the circumstances”. Craven said. “We hope this decision acts as a catalyst for change in Russia and we can welcome the Russian Paralympic Committee back as a member safe in the knowledge that it is fulfilling its obligations to ensure fair competition for all”.
Although not widely followed or celebrated in Russian Federation, its para-athletes are some of the best in the world.
Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said: “The investigation about the Russian doping is a thick and disgusting mix containing 80% of politics and 20% of the actual doping, the politics targeting against sports, Russian athletes and Russia as a country”.
Russians lose appeal against Paralympics ban was posted in Sports of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on August 24, 2016 and was last updated on August 24, 2016.
Russia continues to deny the findings of the McLaren report, including the involvement of the sports ministry and the Russian secret service in doping fraud at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
“It has been said quite openly that IPC had no other means of influencing the state’s, as they put it, system of doping violations, other than disqualifying the Russian Paralympic Committee”.
Lukin said at the meeting, closed to the press, that IPC officials seemed more interested in talking about the large number of medals won by his country in previous games than offering arguments about the suspension.
“Their medals over morals attitude disgusts me”.
“It is they who are responsible for this and that is why we have had to take this decision”.
An estimated 250 Russian competitors had been slated to take part in Rio and many had continued training ahead of the CAS decision.
That included 19-year-old backstroke swimmer Alexander Makarov, who suffers from arthrogryposis, a congenital condition that limits the limbs’ movements.
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Almost 4,300 athletes from 164 countries took part in the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
