MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. Russian athletes won 11 gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals following day three of competition at the 2023 Russian-Chinese Youth Summer Games in China.
Russia’s young athletes took home medals in swimming, freestyle wrestling and badminton.
Among Russia’s five gold medalists in freestyle wrestling were Saikhan Shamsudinov (men’s under 55-kg weight category), Adlan Saitiyev (men’s under-60 kg weight category) and Diana Rybchenko (women’s under-46 kg weight category), who all made it to the top of the podium. Silvers went to Violetta Biryukova (women’s under-49 kg weight category), Olga Ovchinnikova (women’s under-53 kg weight category), Yekaterina Radysheva (women’s under-57 kg weight category) and Yevangeliya Berezhnova (women’s under-69 kg weight category).
The top prize also went to young Russian athletes in men’s Greco-Roman wrestling - Artyom Petrov (under-55 kg weight category), Temur Kuldasov (under-60 kg weight category) and Nazar Berkovskiy (under-71 kg weight category).
In swimming, Sofia Dyakova won gold in the women’s 400m freestyle event, while Savely Luzin and Roman Akimov won silver and bronze medals respectively in the men's 400-meter freestyle.
Russia’s Maria Golubeva won the gold in ladies badminton singles, and Galina Lisochkina and Daria Kharlampovich won the silver in the women’s doubles event. In men’s doubles, Russia’s Maxim Ogloblin and Igor Pushkaryov won the bronze, and Natalia Nikulina and Yekaterina Tyutikova did the same in women’s doubles.
Nikita Borisov and Alexandra Chushkina took bronze in men’s and women’s badminton singles respectively.
The 9th annual Russian-Chinese Youth Summer Games are being hosted by the Chinese city of Chongqing from May 21-27 and the Russian delegation at the event is represented by 158 athletes in addition to 50 members from the coaching and accompanying staff.
The Russian-Chinese Youth Summer Games include eight sports disciplines, namely badminton, basketball, volleyball, handball, wrestling, swimming, football and rhythmic gymnastics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on October 17, 2022 to hold the Year of Russian-Chinese cooperation in physical culture and sports in 2022 and 2023.
IOC’s ban on Russia’s international participation
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Athletes from the countries in question should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status.