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Team ROC wins 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver in men’s beach volleyball

Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky lost in the final match to Norway’s Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sorum
Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky Valery Sharifulin/TASS
Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

TOKYO, August 7. /TASS/. Team ROC (the Russian Olympic Committee) players Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky took the silver of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in men’s beach volleyball competition on Saturday.

The duo of Russian beach volleyball players lost in the final match to Norway’s Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sorum 0-2 (17-21; 18-21). The bronze medal was packed earlier by the national team of Qatar.

The sport of beach volleyball was introduced to the program of the Summer Olympic Games in 1996 and athletes from Russia never played in the final of this Olympic competition. Krasilnikov and Stoyanovsky are the reigning world champions.

As of today, the Russian national team of athletes in Tokyo - participating as Team ROC (the Russian Olympic Committee) due to international sanctions against Russian sports - boasts 17 gold, 24 silver and 22 bronze medals. Team ROC is currently 5th in the overall medal count.

The 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Japan’s capital of Tokyo are being held this year between July 23 and August 8. In March 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Japan for one year due to the spread of COVID-19.

Russia at Tokyo-2020

On July 6, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) published an approved list of 335 athletes, who were selected to represent the country at the Summer Olympic Games. The Olympic delegation of Russian athletes in Tokyo includes 185 female and 150 male athletes.

Russian athletes are competing in Tokyo under the flag and logo of the Russian National Olympic Committee (ROC) instead of the Russian national flag and state emblem. The national anthem of Russia is also under sanctions at the Olympics in Japan.

Sanctions against Russian sports

On December 17, 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland’s Lausanne partially upheld WADA’s (the World Anti-Doping Agency) previous ruling on a number of sanctions against Russian sports.

Following the CAS decision, Russian athletes were deprived of their right to participate in all World Championships, Olympic and Paralympic Games under the national flag of Russia for a two-year period.

The ruling of the Swiss-based court also stripped Russia of the right to bid for the organization of all international sports tournaments for a period of two years. WADA’s sanctions will be in force until December 2022.