Russian judo team banned at Paralympic Games in Rio

All Russian athletes remain banned from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed their appeal against their suspension by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The Russian team won five medals at the 2012 London Paralympic Games. Also at the recently held VI Grand Prix in Birmingham Russia won gold U100kg and the team was in four finals. Potential Paralympic judo medallists such as Victor Rudenko, Vitalii Koriakin Tatiana Savostyanova, Alesya Stepanyuk and Olga Zabrodskaia will be devastated by the confirmation of CAS.

The Paralympic Judo tournament takes place from 8-10 September in Rio. The IPC opted to impose a blanket ban on the nation on August 7 following the release of the McLaren Report, which revealed a state-sponsored doping scheme in the country, including at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Russia.

The Canadian lawyer alleged what he described as the "disappearing positive methodology" - where positive samples were switched for clean ones - in the explosive report.

IPC President Sir Philip Craven described the anti-doping system in Russia as "broken, corrupted and entirely compromised", while accusing the Russian Government of "catastrophically failing" its Para-athletes. The Briton also said the "medals over morals" attitude in the country "disgusts" me.

The Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) appealed the IPC Board's unanimous decision, but CAS have today upheld the decision.

Some of the major Russian Paralympic athletes

In 2015 Vitalii Koriakin  won the IBSA European Championships Lisbon. He took the European title for men U60kg. He won bronze at the IBSA World Cup Eger in 2015. He won the Visual Impaired Grand Prix in Birmingham in 2016.

In 2015 Victor Rudenko won bronze at the IBSA European Championships in Lisbon. He fights U66kg. He won silver at the Visual Impaired German Open in Heidelberg in 2016.

Paralympic judoka Abdula Kuramagomedov  won gold at the IBSA World Championships 2014 in Colorado fighting U100kg. In 2015 he won the IBSA European Championships in Lisbon. He took the European title for men U100kg. He won the Visual Impaired Grand Prix in Birmingham in 2016.

Natalia Ovchinnikova is Paralympic judoka. She won silver at the Visual Impaired Grand Prix in Birmingham in 2016.

Tatiana Savostyanova won silver U70kg at the Paralympic Games London in 2012. In 2015 she won the IBSA European Championships in Lisbon. She took the European title for women U70kg. In 2013 she won the IBSA European Championships in Eger, Hungary.

Paralympic judoka Alesya Stepanyuk of Russia won judo bronze at the 2014 IBSA World Championships in Colorado, USA. She fights U48kg. In 2015 she won bronze at the IBSA European Championships in Lisbon. In 2015 she won the IBSA World Games in Seoul. She won silver at the Visual Impaired Grand Prix in Birmingham in 2016.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko had previously stated that the ban from the Paralympic Games was "beyond belief.

The IPC position contrasted starkly with that taken by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as they opted to defer the decision over the extent of participation of Russian athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympics to the International Federations (IFs).

In London 289 Russian athletes competed at the Paralympic Games.