KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Badminton upheld its ban on Russian and Belarusian players in international competitions days before Olympic qualifying begins.
Badminton’s qualifying period for next year’s Paris Olympics starts on May 1 and uses a calendar-year ranking.
Meanwhile, modern pentathlon said it would set up a “pathway” for athletes from the two countries to return but didn’t commit to a date.
The Badminton World Federation cited security concerns and the need for “more clarity” on the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) “complex criteria” to admit some Russians and Belarusians as neutral athletes without national symbols but keep excluding others, such as military personnel or those who have supported the invasion of Ukraine.
The IOC also recommends allowing athletes from only Russia and Belarus to compete individually and not in team sports or “team events in individual sports.” That raises the prospect in badminton of players being allowed to play singles but not doubles as a national team, a point the BWF did not address directly in its statement on Thursday.
The recommendations from the IOC last month aren’t binding on sports’ governing bodies, which can implement them as they wish. The IOC has said it hasn’t made a decision on what happens at the Paris Olympics.
Modern pentathlon’s governing body, known as the UIPM, said it would follow the IOC’s recommendations but didn’t set any timetable. It will be up to an “independent panel” to decide when and how Russians and Belarusians are readmitted, the governing body said.
“It is our firm belief that sport should be politically neutral and now, more than ever, must act as a vehicle for peace and a symbol of solidarity between athletes,” the UIPM said.
Other Olympic sports which have followed the IOC and said they want to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete as neutral athletes include wrestling, taekwondo and triathlon. Athletics, weightlifting and equestrian have all maintained bans.
Meanwhile, online registration for a lottery draw where winners can buy tickets for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris closed on Thursday.
Entries for the draw ended at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), and applicants must now wait until early next month to find out if they were successful.
After a first phase of ticket sales featuring packages ended March 15, registration for a lottery draw for single tickets began that day.
On Thursday, Paris 2024 organizers tweeted a final message at around 3 p.m. to encourage any last-gasp applicants to sign up.
They wrote “cross the line before 18H ” along with a photo of multiple Olympic gold medalist Allyson Felix of the United States crossing the line victoriously at the 2016 Rio Games.
Figures on the number of applications, where they were from and other statistics, were not made available Thursday. Details were expected to be provided on Friday.
Those successful in the lottery will each receive an allocated time slot for when they can purchase their tickets starting May 11, after which they have 48 hours to buy.
All will be informed two days beforehand as to when their allocated time slot is going to take place. Tickets will be available in five categories according to price.
A maximum of 30 tickets overall can be bought for each account holder who took part in the lottery draw, with a maximum of six for any particular session at the Games.
While tickets can also be purchased for friends and family, they are not for re-sale other than on the official platform.
Those who were not successful in the lottery draw will also be informed by email. They are encouraged to stay connected for future ticket opportunities at the end of 2023, although it was not yet clear under what format.
The 2024 Games, which run next year from July 26-Aug. 11, will feature 32 sports and 48 disciplines across 37 sites. The Paris Paralympics follow from Aug. 28-Sept. 8.
Around 10 million tickets were expected to be sold overall for the Olympics and 3.4 million for the Paralympics. Ticket sales are online only.
Image credits: AP