Paralympic team from Ukraine to arrive in Beijing, officials to decide if Russians can compete

Despite their country being at war a team of 20 Paralympians from Ukraine are due to arrive in Beijing for Friday's start of the Paralympic Winter Games meanwhile some members of the Russian Paralympic team are already in Beijing but won't know whether they can compete until later today.

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Andrew Parsons has told The Ticket the International Olympic Committee's recommendation that all athletes from Russia and Belarus be banned from sporting events will be discussed before a decision is taken.

«They [Ukrainians] are coming to the Games, they are trying to get here,» Parsons said. «For their security, we are not disclosing any information on their whereabouts but they are on their way.

»Regarding Russia and Belarus, we will have a board meeting [on Wednesday] to decide on the situation.

«We are aware there are many different opinions around the world about their participation or not… everyone is entitled to their opinions but… we have to deal with the facts.

»The danger of the situation we are in at the moment is that athletes are treated as pawns, and we allow politics to come into play and we change the decisions that we would normally make."

The IPC has just approved a new constitution stressing the organisation is «neutral», according to Parsons.

«We don't have a political stance one way or the other, so this is what will drive our decision.»

«We do see the danger… that we start to become political, or be guided by political opinions or political decisions and then I think the danger is where we draw the line, why one conflict is more important than another, why one country yes and another country no, and we cannot be like that.

»The moment we start acting like that we lose