TOKYO, August 31. /TASS/. Russian swimmer Daria Pikalova won silver on Tuesday at the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo in the women’s 100-meter freestyle S12 classification competition.

Pikalova finished the distance with the result of 59.13 seconds to take the silver. The gold was snatched by Maria Carolina Gomes Santiago of Brazil (59.01 seconds) and the bronze went to Hannah Russell from Great Britain (1 minute 0.25 seconds).

This is Pikalova’s 3rd medal of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. She is already the bronze medal winner in the women’s 100-meter butterfly S13 classification event and the silver medal winner of in the women’s 100-meter backstroke S12 classification competition.

Pikalova is 27 years old and, participating in the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games in London, she won one silver and three bronze medals. The Russian swimmer also boasts seven gold, four silver and two bronze medals of the world championships in addition to 10 gold, six silver and two bronze medals of the European championships.

She started her sports career in 2002 in Russia’s southern city of Voronezh and is on the roster of the Russian national Paralympic team since 2011.

The 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Japan’s Tokyo are being held between August 24 and September 5, 2021. In March 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced their decision to postpone the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Japan for one year due to the continuous COVID-19 spread.

As of today, the Russian national team of Para athletes in Tokyo - participating as Team RPC (the Russian Paralympic Committee) due to international sanctions against Russian sports - boasts 25 gold, 14 silver and 33 bronze medals. Team RPC is currently 3rd in the overall medal count following China (59-37-32), the Great Britain (29-23-27).

Team RPC at 2020 Summer Paralympics in Japan

The team of national athletes from Russia at the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Japan includes 242 athletes, while the overall number of the RPC delegation in Tokyo stands at 432 people. The selected Paralympians from Russia are fighting for medals in 19 out of the 22 sports competitions, on the program of the quadrennial event.

Russian athletes are competing in the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo under the flag and logo of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) instead of the Russian national flag and state emblem.

The national anthem of Russia is also under sanctions at the Paralympics in Japan. The First Piano Concerto by Pyotr Tchaikovsky was selected to be played at awarding ceremonies for Russian Paralympians in Tokyo.

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.