Winter Paralympics 2022: Athletes from Russia, Belarus banned from competing

Russia continues its attack on Ukraine. The country has faced another sanction as IPC has banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in Beijing Winter Olympics 2022.

There has been no stopping of Russia over its continuing attacks on Ukraine. Meanwhile, the world continues to condemn the former for his unprovoked attacks and invasion of the latter. In the same light, it has received another sanction from a sporting perspective, as the athletes of Russia and its neighbouring country Belarus have been banned from participating in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Earlier, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) had announced that it would not impose any sanction on the athletes of the two countries for now, ahead of the Paralympics. However, on Thursday, it made a u-turn by imposing the boycott and the ban. The Games are set to begin on March 4.

In a lengthy IPC statement, president Andrew Parsons recorded, “At the IPC, we are very firm believers that sport and politics should not mix. However, by no fault of its own, the war has now come to these Games, and behind the scenes, many Governments are having an influence on our cherished event.”

“In the last 12 hours, an overwhelming number of members have been in touch with us and been very open, for which I am grateful. They have told us that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games. Multiple NPCs, some of which have been contacted by their governments, teams and athletes, are threatening not to compete,” he added.

“With this in mind, and in order to preserve the integrity of these Games and the safety of all participants, we have decided to refuse the athlete entries from RPC and NPC Belarus. I hope and pray that we can get back to a situation when the talk and focus is fully on the power of sport to transform the lives of persons with disabilities and the best of humanity,” he concluded.

Russia has already received several other sporting sanctions. Most of the sporting tournaments’ hosting rights have been withdrawn from the country. Also, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) have banned the country’s participation in any footballing competitions. Meanwhile, sporting organisations are also cancelling sponsorship deals with Russian companies.