President of the Russian Cycling Federation Ekimov: “The decision to participate in the Asian Games will depend on the ROC and the Ministry of Sports”

President of the Russian Cycling Federation Vyacheslav Ekimov said that the position of the Russian Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Sports will be the main factors in making a decision on participation in the Asian Games in a neutral status.

Earlier on Saturday, it was learned that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to participate in the 2023 Asian Summer Games in a neutral status and outside the medal count. The total number of athletes must not exceed 500 people.

– In order to understand how all this is possible for us, we need to hear the position of our Olympic Committee on this subject. Secondly, if we are talking about a neutral status, then we need to understand if the Ministry of Sports is ready to finance the participation of our athletes in this status to participate in the Asian Games. The decision to participate will depend on these two things, Yekimov told .

The 2023 Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8.

In January, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) invited Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in Asian competitions, including the Asian Games, subject to International Olympic Committee (IOC) conditions.

At the end of March, the IOC issued recommendations on the possible return of the Russians to the biggest competitions. The recommendations, in particular, involve neutral status, individual admission and no contracts for athletes with law enforcement and the armed forces.