Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 31
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
Azerbaijan’s Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov thinks that it is not right to ban Russian team’s participation at 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“As we know, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) banned Russian athletes from Paralympic Games. Their licenses have been distributed among athletes of other countries by means unknown for us,” said Rahimov at a press conference in Baku.
“Azerbaijan obtained three licenses. But we haven’t earned these licenses,” he added. “How can an athlete, who has not earned a license, to take part in the Olympics?”
He said also that there was no a court decision on this issue.
“I can not understand how it was possible to distribute these licenses among other countries without a court decision?” noted Rahimov. “In general, how the people with disabilities can be banned from the most important sporting event, considering that they were preparing for it for many years?”
The 2016 Summer Paralympics will be held Sept. 7-18 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.