Russian Paralympic athletes will have the chance to compete at the Paralympic Games of 2020 and 2022 under the Russian flag if they meet specific requirements, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Andrew Parsons said Friday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th February, 2019) Russian Paralympic athletes will have the chance to compete at the Paralympic Games of 2020 and 2022 under the Russian flag if they meet specific requirements, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Andrew Parsons said Friday.
The committee has announced that the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) will be conditionally reinstated starting on March 15, which will let athletes to compete under the Russian flag.
"Up until 31 December 2022, Russian Para athletes will only be entitled to participate in certain competitions (including the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games) if they have met the specified testing requirements," Parsons said, as cited in the IPC press release.
According to Parsons, the Russian Paralympic Committee has implemented 69 criteria that give grounds to believe that the organization has undergone significant changes since the Rio 2016 Games. Russian athletes, however, will still be most frequently checked and the Russian Paralympic Committee will have to compensate the IPC for doping test expenses, Parsons added.
"Russian Para athletes are amongst, and will continue to be, the most tested athletes in the Paralympic Movement," he stressed.
The RPC was suspended in August 2016. On September 12, 2018, the IPC extended the suspension, since the RPC had not met all the criteria needed for its reinstatement. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA)'s reinstatement by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was among the criteria.
RUSADA was suspended in 2015 after WADA issued a report, which accused Russia of state-backed doping activities in the country's athletics. The allegations have been repeatedly denied by the Russian authorities.
On September 20, 2018, WADA reinstated RUSADA under condition that the key data from the Moscow anti-doping laboratory were delivered to WADA. On January 17, 2019, WADA said that its experts had successfully completed the work on copying the database of the laboratory.
