Moscow thanks Baku for supporting Russian Paralympians

By Azernews

By Amina Nazarli

Russia is grateful to Baku, Azerbaijani citizens and colleagues for their response, for their understanding the injustice towards the Russian Paralympians.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariya Zakharova made the remarks at a briefing answering a question of Trend’s correspondent on September 8.

“Many thanks to those who have supported us, especially, to Azerbaijani colleagues,” said Zakharova.

Baku has officially announced that it will not accept the banned Russian Paralympians’ licenses, distributed among other countries’ athletes.

Azerbaijan’s Youth and Sport Minister Azad Rahimov said it is not right to ban Russian team’s participation in the competitions in Rio.

“Azerbaijan has won three licenses,” he said. “But we haven’t earned those [Russian] licenses. How can an athlete, who has not earned a license, take part in the Olympics?”

Earlier, the World Anti-Doping Agency banned Russian Paralympians from the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Following the rejection of Russia's appeal against the blanket ban imposed by Paralympics officials, the country’s 267 licenses were distributed among other countries- participants of the Paralympic Games in Rio.

Then, the International Paralympic Committee sent an official letter to Azerbaijan informing about three licenses that Azerbaijani para-athletes received from them.

Azerbaijan will be represented by 24 para-athletes in six sports in the Rio Paralympics. Six female paralympians will compete in judo, athletics, powerlifting, swimming, bullet shooting and archery. In total, the country's paralympians got 41 licenses, which is more compared to London 2012 Paralympics.

The Azerbaijani National Paralympic Committee, representing the country in the international paralympic movement, was established in 1996. The same year, two Azerbaijani paralympans joined the 10th Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, the U.S..

Since then, Azerbaijani athletes could gain 27 medals in total, which include 8 gold, 10 silver and 9 bronze medals.

The 2016 Summer Paralympics started in Rio de Janeiro on September 7 and will run until September 18.