MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/. Russian athletes will be unable to compete in the 2023 Asian Games this month in China, President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov said on Thursday.
"The [International Olympic Committee] summit was held in Lausanne last December," Pozdnyakov said. "This initiative [of Russia’s participation in the Asian Games] received wide support."
"It is hard to say what happened after that. All hope was lost. The [Asian] Games begin on September 23. We have not received an invitation," the ROC chief added.
The 2023 Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8 of this year. The event was initially scheduled to be held last year at the same venue, but was rescheduled to a later date due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential spread among people traveling to mainland China.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced on January 26 that the organization had decided to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in sports events in Asia as well as in the Asian Games, subject to IOC conditions.
Possible participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2023 Asian Games paved the way for them to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
IOC’s sanctions against Russia, Belarus
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.
In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.
There is still no final clear-cut decision on behalf of the IOC regarding the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The French capital of Paris is scheduled to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games between July 26 and August 11, 2024.