MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. Russian sports officials will participate in the World Curling Federation (WCF) Congress this fall despite the current sanctions, Dmitry Svishchev, the president of the Russian Curling Federation (RCF), told TASS on Friday.

The WCF announced earlier a decision to extend the ban on the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in international tournaments until the end of 2024.

"The Russian Curling Federation will take part in the [WCF] Congress in Canada," the RCF president said. "We [Russia] will be represented by Olga Zharkova, Yekaterina Galkina and Anton Batugin."

Svishchev, who also serves as chairman of the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, added: "I am not going there [to the WCF Congress] because of sanctions and I don’t want to do it in principle."

The 2024 World Curling Congress is scheduled to be hosted by Canada’s Montreal between September 5 and 8.

National curling teams of Russia and Belarus have been barred by the WCF from international tournaments since 2022 due to the ongoing developments in Ukraine.