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International Cycling Union grants neutral status to 48 Russian cyclists

The UCI, however, refused to grant the neutral-status participation to four Russian cycling racers, namely Alexey Obydennov, Anastasiya Voinova, Maria Novolodskaya and Danila Burlakov

MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Over the past 10-month period the International Cycling Union (UCI) has decided to grant a neutral status participation in international tournaments to 75 athletes, including 48 cyclists from Russia, according to UCI documents obtained by TASS on Wednesday.

As of April 1, the neutral status had been granted to Inna Abaidullina, Maria Averina, Sofia Balayeva, Yana Burlakova, Nikita Bykovsky, Valeria Valgonen, Pyotr Vinokurov, Vladimir Goncharov, Alexander Grigoryev, Fyodor Daysov, Tamara Droonova, Alexander Dubchenko, Daria Dyatlova, Yekaterina Yevlanova, Daria Yermolova, Daniil Zarakovsky, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Alyona Ivanchenko, Yegor Igoshev, Daaniil Kazakov, Nikita Kalachnik, Nikita Kuriltsev, Yekaterina Kovalchuk, Mark Kryuchkov, Ruslan Kuznetsov, Alina Lysenko, Ivan Maikin, Daria Malkova, Tatyana Malkova, Sergey Malnev, Alexey Medvedev, Ivan Novolodsky, Ilya Savekin, Ivan Samusev, Pyotr Sapronov, Ivan Seledkov, Grigory Skornyakov, Ivan Smirnov, Diana Smirnova, Yelizaveta Solozobova, Gleb Syritsa, Boris Ponomaryov, Mikhail Postarnak, Sergey Rostovtsev, Maria Rostovtseva, Yaroslav Shvedov, Vlas Shichkin and Ilya Shchegolkov.

The UCI, however, refused to grant the neutral-status participation to four Russian cycling racers, namely Alexey Obydennov, Anastasiya Voinova, Maria Novolodskaya and Danila Burlakov. This ban will be in force as long as the organization's special rules for Russia and Belarus are in force.

UCI’s press office announced in May 2023 a decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international tournaments.

The UCI stated in particular in its statement early last year to "authorize, under strict conditions, the participation of athletes of Russian and Belarusian sporting nationality in events on the UCI International Calendar, including UCI World Cup and UCI Nations Cup events and UCI World Championships, as ‘neutral individual athletes,’ without them having any involvement or association with the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus, their National Federation or National Olympic Committee."

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