Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be able to compete at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) says.
"Following a specially convened meeting, the IPC governing board has decided to refuse the athlete entries from the RPC and NPC Belarus for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games," the IPC said in a statement.
The about-face comes less than 24 hours after the IPC announced it would allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete when the Games open on Friday, but only as neutrals with colours, flags and other national symbols removed.
The IPC received immediate criticism for its initial decision, before saying it was evident that many athletes would refuse to compete against Russians or Belarusians, creating chaos for the Paralympics and damaging the Games' reputation.
IPC president Andrew Parsons, in announcing the initial measures on Wednesday in a Beijing news conference, sympathised openly with the Ukrainian people but said his actions were constrained by his organisation's rules and the fear of legal action.
Parsons said almost the opposite in announcing his reversal a day later, noting his constituents had pushed back.
"In the last 12 hours, an overwhelming number of members have been in touch with us," Parsons said in a statement.
"They have told us that if we do not reconsider our decision, it is now likely to have grave consequences.
"What is clear is that the rapidly escalating situation has now put us in a unique and impossible position so close to the start of the Games."
Parsons also addressed the Russian and Belarusian athletes.
"To para-athletes from the impacted countries, we are very sorry that you are affected by the decisions your governments took last week in breaching the Olympic truce. You are victims of your governments' actions," he said.
The IPC now joins sports like soccer, track, basketball, hockey and others that have imposed blanket bans on Russians and Belarusians.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday pushed sports bodies to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes from international events, but it left the final decisions to individual governing bodies.
The IOC has been slow to crack down on Russia, allowing its athletes to compete in the last four Olympics following a state-sponsored doping scandal and cover-up in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Russia was expected to have 71 athletes competing in Beijing. It was not immediately clear how many Belarusian athletes were involved. Ukraine has said it would have 20.
The Winter Paralympics open on Friday and close on March 13.
AP
