Russian athletes could still be banned from next year’s Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, the president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said yesterday.

Philip Craven acted decisively to ban the entire Russian team from last summer’s Rio Games due to doping revelations and said he cannot be sure when they will return.

Asked if Russia will have a team in Pyeongchang, Craven said: “I don’t know and I don’t think many people do.
“I’m not looking for someone to say sorry but let’s get it fixed.”

Unlike the International Olympic Committee, which left it up to individual sports federations to decide on appropriate sanctions, the IPC took a firm stance following the publication of the first McLaren report into state-sponsored doping in July.

Russian athletes will be absent from this week’s IPC Para Alpine World Championships in Tarvisio, Italy, although Craven intimated that he still hoped the ban could be lifted in time for Pyeongchang.

“Russia is a great sporting nation and without them being here they are missed in a sporting sense,” he added.

“But we can’t have nations competing when their performances have been tarnished by what’s gone on before.”