Belgian Paralympic Committee Respects IPC Decision on Russian Athletes

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — The Belgian Paralympic Committee respects the decision by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to suspend Russian athletes from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, and is awaiting for IPC to study all the consequences of such decision, the committee told Sputnik Monday.

IPC President Philip Craven imposed a blanket ban on Russian Paralympic athletes on Sunday, giving the RPC until August 28 to appeal the decision. Earlier in the day, the British Paralympic Association strongly welcomed the decision, which was announced by IPC on Sunday.

"As Belgian Paralympic Committee, we respect this decision and understand that the IPC’s decision was different from the decision of IOC [International Olympic Committee], due to difference in their structure. We’ll let the IPC study all the consequences of this decision on every sport and discipline," an IPC communications manager said.

In July, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) urged the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to suspend Russian Paralympic team from the September 7-18 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro following a report of the WADA independent commission led by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, alleging that Russia had run a state-controlled doping program.

Moscow has repeatedly denied such allegations, stressing that the report does not include enough reliable evidence.

Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) President Vladimir Lukin said Monday that the body has "irrefutable evidence" of compliance with the global anti-doping responsibilities.