Russia’s participation in Winter Paralympic Games on a knife edge

The International Paralympic Committee has admitted it will have to be “very careful” in deciding on Wednesday whether to allow Russian athletes to compete at the Winter Games.

After it was confirmed that Ukraine’s 20-strong delegation would be travelling to China following uncertainty over their presence at the Games, a decision on Russian involvement will be taken on Wednesday, ahead of the Games beginning this weekend.

The head of the IPC, Andrew Parsons, said any outcome must be based on “our constitution and the values we stand for,” but that “the options in front of us will be limited by legal framework”.

Parsons told the BBC: “Any decision we take is open to legal challenge from different sides. This is what we need to be very careful about because it could be from Russia or from other nations. We need to make a decision based on our constitution and the values we stand for.

“The options that we have in front of us will be, I think, limited by legal framework. We have a competition starting in three days. We need to make a decision that if it’s challenged we are able to defend it and maintain it.”

On Monday the International Olympic Committee issued a resolution calling on all sporting organisations to remove Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from international competition.

On Tuesday World Athletics responded to the IOC resolution by banning Russian and Belarusian athletes “for the foreseeable future” and with “immediate effect” - meaning none will take part in the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Serbia this month.

The IOC resolution came with an exception, which would allow Russians to compete but as neutral athletes if time or legal constraints prevented their removal. This was created