“The decision to suspend our Paralympians is outside the law, morality, humanity”, Putin said in a ceremony at the Kremlin that honoured the Russian Olympic medallists returning from Rio.Putin also pledged that the country would organise competitions for the banned Paralympians “to show all their skills”.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has slammed the International Paralympic Committee for its decision to ban Russian athletes from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. The CAS, based in the Swiss city of Lausanne, dismissed the appeal by Russian Federation on August 8 against the decision of the International Paralympic Committee to temporarily suspend Russia’s membership.
“We have appealed to Swiss justice (over the CAS ruling)”, Russian Paralympic Committee head Vladimir Lukin told Interfax news agency on Friday, without giving any further details. The Rio Paralympics will run from September 7th to the 18th.
Gogochuri and Chachibaia were Georgia’s initial Paralympic athletes however Khetsuriani, Jincharadze and Tsiklauri will now join them following the complete ban of Russia’s Paralympic team.
The verdict was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday, meaning that almost 250 Russian competitors were barred from taking part in Rio.
Putin said the decision to bar Russian athletes, including those who had not tested positive for any banned substances, was a vivid manifestation “of how the humanistic foundations of sport and Olympism are shamelessly flouted by politics”.
“It is simply cynical to vent one’s anger on those for whom sport has become the meaning of their life. I even feel pity for those taking such decisions because they must well understand that it is so demeaning for them”.
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Syrian-born Ibrahim Al Hussein and Iran native Shahrad Nasajpour will form a two-man refugee team at the 2016 Paralympic Games.
