Only a few days are left for the Paris Olympics. It will begin on 26 July, two weeks later. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has also sent invitation letters to athletes to participate in it. Meanwhile, a dispute is being seen between the IOC and Russian wrestlers. The IOC had sent invitations to 10 wrestlers to participate in the Paris Olympics, calling them neutral. Now all these wrestlers have refused to participate, opposing the decision of the IOC. The Wrestling Federation of Russia has given this information by issuing a statement. It has said in the statement that this decision has been taken after a meeting of all the athletes and trainers.

Why did Russian wrestlers refuse to go to the Olympics?

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Since then the war between the two countries is going on. After this invasion by Russia, the IOC banned Russia from participating in the Olympics. After this, the committee held a meeting and decided that Russian athletes would have to go through the Individual Neutral Athlete Program to participate in this event, where permission would be given after passing the interview. Under this program, the committee had given permission to 10 Russian athletes, out of which 9 athletes accepted the invitation, while one refused.

Now the Russian Wrestling Federation has raised questions and said that not 10 but 16 wrestlers had qualified for the Olympics. The wrestlers who were called are far from the scale of the Russian team. The federation has also said that the Olympic event is not complete without Russian athletes. Now its value will decrease if they do not go. Even the champions themselves will not get satisfaction by winning.

Daniil Medvedev will participate

According to the IOC website, 23 Russian athletes qualified for the Olympics for seven sports. These 10 wrestlers were part of them, who have now refused to participate. However, 2021 US Open winner and Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev has accepted the IOC's invitation.

It has already been banned

Russia has been banned before as well. In 2019, WADA banned Russia for four years accusing it of fraud in doping samples, due to which Russian athletes could not participate in the Tokyo Olympics. WADA had alleged that Russia had tampered with the samples of its athletes for dope tests.