Russia holds alternative para sport event after being barred from Winter Paralympics

The “We Are Together. Sports” para sports competition finished earlier this week in Khanty-Mansiisk, Russia. The event was held as a replacement competition for Russian and Belarusian athletes barred from participating in the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games.

Russia and Belarus were originally set to compete at the Winter Paralympics following the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) initially ruled they would compete as neutral athletes without their national flags, anthems, or symbols.

However, following a dramatic series of events in which athletes and teams threatened to boycott their matches against Russian and Belarusian opponents, the IPC was forced to overturn their original decision and decline the entries of Russia and Belarus.

IPC President Andrew Parsons told the athletes of both nations, “we are very sorry you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in breaching the Olympic Truce. You are victims of your governments’ actions.”

In lieu of participation at the Winter Paralympics, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko made plans for his country to organize an alternative para sport event for Russia and Belarusian athletes. Ultimately, the event was attended by athletes from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan.

The event was organized in Khanty-Mansiisk and ran from March 18-21. It featured the same sports as the Winter Paralympics, with Russian state news agency TASS reporting Russia won the medal table, winning 39 gold medals at the event.

Pavel Rozhkov, Acting President of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC), told TASS, “our Chinese partners were preparing for seven years, while it took Yugra only seven days. We have inspected all sports facilities and they are in compliance with the international up-to-date standards.”

Rozhkov added the event may not be a one-off either, alluding to the possibility of organizing similar events in the future. He told TASS, “we are pondering the organization of the Games on a regular basis. A matter of their frequency would be decided later.”

“We plan [on] organizing such Games for the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) member states. Participation invitations to other countries, including from Europe, are also possible.”

Rozhkov concluded, “we have grand opportunities for hosting such tournaments and they include the infrastructure, the refereeing staff, the organization and, most importantly, our desire to host them.”