MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has officially included in its rankings the results of 160 of Russia’s Para athletes at the recent track and field competition that was held as part of the ‘We Are Together: Sport’ summer competition, President of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) Pavel Rozhkov told TASS on Tuesday.

Some 4,500 athletes took part in Russia’s summer Paralympic games ‘We Are Together: Sport,’ which included 22 sports events and were held in 14 regions across Russia.

"The track and field competition, which was hosted by the city of Cheboksary within the framework of the summer Paralympic games, was officially listed on the IPC calendar of events," Rozhkov said.

"The technical [IPC] delegate has recorded all the results of licensed athletes," he said, adding that "160 results from the summer games of Paralympians were entered in the [IPC] rankings list, which serves as a qualifying document for the [2024] Summer Paralympics in Paris."

Commenting on the organization of the track and field tournament of the ‘We Are Together: Sport’ summer competition, Rozhov said: "The competitions were very well organized."

"In all, 110 Russian track and field athletes hold IPC licenses at the moment," he said. "Ten of them are the cream of the crop in their sport, while 60 more are on the list of the Top-100 strongest [Para track and field] athletes."

"The technical delegate has also recorded three new world records and nine new European records, so we are waiting for official confirmation of this data on behalf of the IPC," Rozhkov added.

The 2024 Summer Paralympic Games will be held in the French capital of Paris between August 28 and September 8. The issue of Russia’s participation in next year’s Paralympics will be discussed at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) General Assembly meeting on September 27.

Russian Para-athletes had been set to take part in the Beijing Paralympics in 2022 until the IPC decided to suspend their participation due to Russia’s involvement in the ongoing developments in Ukraine.

On November 16, 2022, the IPC Extraordinary General Assembly voted to suspend the Russian Paralympic Committee’s membership in the organization. The RPC filed a motion on December 26, 2022 contesting the IPC General Assembly’s ruling to indefinitely suspend Russian Para-athletes from competing in international sports tournaments.

RPC ongoing spat with IPC

On August 7, 2016, the International Paralympic committee (the IPC) decided to bar the entire Russian team from taking part in the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on August 23, 2016 upheld the IPC’s ruling that came on the heels of a report delivered a month earlier by the WADA Independent Commission, chaired by Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren.

Besides collectively punishing the Russian national team by banning it from the Rio Games, the IPC also decided to suspend the RPC’s membership in the international organization.

However, the team of Russian athletes, led by Rozhkov, was allowed to participate in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where it finished in 4th place in the overall medals standings among the rest of the national participants.

Para athletes from Russia also participated in the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang on a neutral status, dubbed as the Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA), as the RPC’s membership with the IPC (the International Paralympic Committee) was suspended at that time.

Russia’s so-called ‘neutral’ team of Para athletes brought home a total of 24 medals from PyeongChang, including eight gold, 10 silver and six bronze, ranking second in the overall medal count at the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics, after the national team of the United States.