Russia will take part in Rio Paralympic Games, IPC announces

Athletes from Russia will still be allowed to compete in this summer's Rio Paralympic Games, the International Paralympic Committee has announced.

Russian track and field stars were barred from the Olympics on June 17 by world athletics' governing body the IAAF after the Russian athletics federation failed to satisfy doping concerns.

But the IPC says the ban will not be extended to the Paralympics because the Russian Paralympic Committee operates as an entirely separate entity.

In a statement, the IPC said: "The International Paralympic Committee would like to clarify that Friday's IAAF decision does not affect the participation of Russian Para athletics team at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

"The Russian Para athletics team train as part of the Russian Paralympic Committee and have no association with the All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF).

"Since the allegations were first made regarding ARAF, the IPC has been in dialogue with the Russian Paralympic Committee to establish what relationship and interactions, if any, they have with ARAF.

"Currently there is no evidence that the anti-doping issues within ARAF extend to the Russian Paralympic Committee or Russian Para athletics team.

"Last month, the IPC wrote to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the current Independent Commission chaired by Richard McLaren to verify whether any of the current allegations regarding Russia extend to Para sport and Para athletes.

"To try and ensure all athletes are competing in a clean environment at Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, the IPC has doubled the budget for pre-Paralympic testing to ensure greater focus on certain countries and territories."