Russian Paralympic Committee Chairman Vladimir Lukin on Wednesday warned his country’s athletes that they may not be able to participate in the Rio Paralympics, which start Sept. 7. At least 278 Russian athletes have been cleared to participate, down from an earlier roster of 387. An investigation showed that Russian paralympic athletes were part of a state-sanctioned scheme to circumvent doping tests at the Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, IPC President Philip Craven said at a news conference here. At the 2012 Paralympics in London, Russia finished second in the gold-medal tally behind only China. The results led to calls to ban the entire Russian team from the Rio Summer Olympics, which kicked off Friday.

Source: Wall Street Journal August 07, 2016 15:33 UTC