Russian Paralympic team still hopes to take part in Rio Games

The Russian Paralympic team is still preparing for competition, as Moscow attempts to reverse the ban on its participation in the Rio 2016 Games, the president of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) Vladimir Lukin said Monday.

"If necessary, we will seek legal solutions to this problem. We are studying, which arbitration is acceptable," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Lukin as saying at a press conference.

"Our team continues to prepare for the Games," he added.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) issued on Sunday a statement banning Russian athletes from 2016 Rio Paralympics "with immediate effect".

The IPC has opened suspension proceedings against the RPC following the publication of the independent McLaren Investigation Report, which claimed that Russian authorities manipulated the doping control process.

President of All-Russia Sport Federation of the Physically Disabled Lev Seleznev said on Sunday that Moscow had filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Lukin said that he was "shocked" at the decision of the IPC to ignore the presumption of innocence and to punish "clean" athletes.

He said RPC had applied to Russian law enforcement agencies to investigate doping allegations so that "the guilty could be punished and the innocent acquitted."

The summer Paralympics are scheduled to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from September 7-18. Endit