20 Ukrainian athletes are expected to be on time for the Paralympics starting on Friday. (file photo)
IPC spokesman Craig Spence told The Associated Press on Tuesday that 20 Ukraine athletes for the Winter Paralympics are expected to be in Beijing in time for Friday’s opening ceremony.
Spence said the team was on its way to the Chinese capital and could arrive by Wednesday.
The arrival was in doubt since Russia invaded Ukraine last week. The International Paralympic Committee board is set to meet on Wednesday and may impose further sanctions on Russian athletes or expel them from the Paralympics.
Russian athletes are set to compete in Beijing as RPC, short for Russian Paralympic Committee, in the aftermath of a state-sponsored doping scandal and coverup for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Belarus is also expected to be approved by the IPC board to participate in the war. Belarusians may be forced to compete as neutral athletes in Beijing, as could Russia.
At last month’s Winter Olympics, Russian athletes competed as ROC for the Russian Olympic Committee due to the doping scandal.
The International Olympic Committee, which has repeatedly failed to forcefully punish Russia for its doping history, prompted dozens of sports governing bodies on Monday to ban Russian athletes and officials from international events.
The IOC, which left the decision to others, said the action was needed “to protect the integrity of global sporting events and the safety of all participants”.
The IOC also gave sporting bodies a way around expulsion.
“Whenever this is not possible at short notice for organizational or legal reasons, the IOC … urges international sports federations and organizers of sporting events around the world to do everything in their power to ensure that that no athletes or sports officials from Russia or Belarus, the IOC said, have been allowed to participate in the name of Russia or Belarus.
71 Russian athletes are expected to participate in the Paralympics. Around 650 athletes from 49 delegations, including Ukraine, are expected to attend the Games.
2,900 athletes from 91 delegations participated in the Winter Olympics in Beijing. It closed on 20 February.
The Paralympics will conclude on March 13.
(reported by AP)