TOKYO, September 1. /TASS/. Russian swimmer Viktoria Ishchiulova won gold on Wednesday at the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo in the women’s 50-meter freestyle S8 classification competition.

Ishchiulova finished the distance with the result of 29.91 seconds to win the gold. The silver went to Cecilia Kethlen Jeronimo de Araujo of Brazil (30.83 seconds) and the bronze was grabbed by Italy’s Xenia Francesca Palazzo (31.17 seconds).

Ishchiulova is 16 years old and she is a four-time European champion and addition to her two bronze medals of the world championships. She has been on the roster of the Russian Paralympics national team since 2017.

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 31 gold, 20 silver and 36 bronze medals. Team RPC is currently 2nd in the overall medal count following China (66-42-35) and Team Great Britain is in 3rd place (30-24-30).

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.