IPC rejects over 175 applications from Russian paralympians for 2016 Rio

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced on Thursday its decision to turn down all individual application submitted by over 175 banned Russian Paralympians asking to be allowed to take part in the upcoming 2016 Rio Paralympics.

"The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced on Thursday (1 September) that it will not allow individual Russian athletes to participate as neutral athletes at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games," the statement from the IPC said, reports Tass.

"The decision followed individual requests by more than 175 Russian athletes to compete at the Paralympic Games, which open on 7 September," the statement added.

Xavier Gonzalez, the IPC's Chief Executive Officer, was quoted as saying in the statement regarding the announced decision: "The IPC has considerable sympathy for all of the Russian athletes who are now unable to participate in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games."

"Indeed, the main goal of the IPC is to enable Para athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world," he said. "Tragically, however, the Russian authorities have denied their athletes this chance through their actions."

On August 7, the IPC decided to bar the whole Russian Paralympic team from taking part in the 2016 Summer Paralympics. The ruling came on the heels of a report delivered earlier in the summer by the Independent Commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The commission, led by Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren, claimed in particular that a total of 35 doping samples were concealed in the Russian Paralympic sports between 2012 and 2015. However, it turned out later that not all the stated cases of concealed doping samples concerned the Russian Paralympic Committee. Nevertheless, the IPC decided on collectively punishing the Russian national team.

The RPC filed a lawsuit with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on August 15 in Lausanne against the IPC's decision, but eight days later, the Swiss-based court ruled to uphold the ban slapped on the whole Russian Paralympic squad.

Last week on Friday, the RPC submitted a motion with the Supreme Federal Court of Switzerland appealing the decision made earlier by the CAS.

The Supreme Federal Court of Switzerland ruled on Wednesday against an appeal from Russia on the suspension of national Paralympians from the 2016 Summer Games.

--IANS

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