Korea questions inclusion of Russia, Belarus in Asian Games

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Korea questions inclusion of Russia, Belarus in Asian Games

 
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) will send a letter to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) questioning why Russia and Belarus are being permitted to compete at this year’s Asian Games, despite neither country being a member of the top Asian sports organization.
 
The announcement comes after the OCA notified members on Monday that Russian and Belarussian athletes would be permitted to compete at the delayed Asian Games in Hangzhou, China starting in September.
 
The OCA’s decision appears to follow a discussion a week earlier at the International Olympic Committee Executive Board, in which the majority of members were said to have supported respecting “the rights of all athletes to be treated without any discrimination, in accordance with the Olympic Charter.”
 
The statement appears to suggest that the IOC will consider permitting Russian and Belarussian athletes to compete without their countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics, despite both countries having been banned following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia with the backing of Belarus.
 
The Asian Games acts as a qualifier for the Olympics. The OCA said that athletes from Russia and Belarus will not be able to win medals, and their participation will not limit the qualification chances of other athletes.
 
"The OCA believes in the unifying power of sport and that all athletes,” the OCA said in a statement, “regardless of their nationality or the passport they hold, should be able to compete in sports competitions.”
 
Neither Russia nor Belarus are a member of the OCA, but are instead members of the European Olympic Committees. Athletes from both countries are still barred from competing at the 2023 European Games, which will begin in Poland in June.
 
"With Russian and Belarusian athletes participating, operating knockout events at the Asian Games can pose some problems," a KSOC official was quoted as saying by Yonhap. "We will ask the OCA how it will handle those situations, and also in what sports Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete at the Asian Games."

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]
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