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Russian sports chief lauds national Para athletes’ performance at 2018 Paralympics

A total of 30 Russian Para athletes and six sighted guides, who help the visually impaired athletes, are participating in the 2018 Winter Paralympic Games

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Para athletes from Russia demonstrated an outstanding performance on Tuesday at the 2018 Winter Paralympic Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang harvesting a total of seven medals in one day, Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov told TASS.

Russian female biathletes won five medals on Tuesday. Yekaterina Rumyantseva and Anna Milenina won gold and silver respectively in women’s 10 km standing, Marta Zainullina and Irina Guliaeva won silver and bronze correspondingly in in women’s 10 km sitting and Mikhalina Lysova took bronze in women’s 10 km for visually impaired.

Moreover, two Russian alpine skiers won gold and bronze in two other competitions today in PyeongChang. Aleksei Bugaev won the gold medal in men’s super combined slalom in Standing and Valery Redkozubov took bronze in men’s super combined slalom for visually impaired.

"Today our Paralympians brought a harvest of medals," Kolobkov said in an interview with TASS. "First of all, it was the merit of our female athletes and I want to extend my sincere congratulations to Yekaterina Rumyantseva, who became the three-time champion at her inaugural Paralympics."

"I am very glad for Anna Milenina and Mikhalina Lysova, who also grabbed their third award each at the current Paralympics," Kolobkov said. "Marta Zainullina and Irina Guliaeva also showed their high class in biathlon."

The Russian sports minister added that he also wanted to "congratulate with the first medals of the 2018 Paralympics alpine skiers Aleksei Bugaev, who brought fifth gold for our team, and Valery Redkozubov."

"This is excellent and I thank them and their coaches," he said. "I am sure that our athletes will continue making happy their fans with new successful achievements."

Para athletes from Russia are participating in the 2018 Paralympics in the neutral status, dubbed as the Neutral Paralympic Athletes (NPA), as the membership of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is currently suspended.

A total of 30 Russian Para athletes and six sighted guides, who help the visually impaired athletes, are participating in the 2018 Winter Paralympic Games, hosted by PyeongChang between March 9 and 18.