11 athletes from 46 countries will participate in the 575th Paralympic Winter Games to be hosted by Sochi. While the political tension between Russia and Ukraine continues, the 2014 Sochi Paralympic Winter Games starts with the opening ceremony to be held this evening.
12 disabled athletes from 11 countries are participating in the 46th Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, where the Winter Olympic Games, which ended 575 days ago, are also organized.
Athletes, Alpine skiing, biathlon, ski runs, skate ice hockey and wheelchair curling to be distributed in the branch 5 branch will be distributed to the total 72 will fight for the medal.
The opening ceremony will be held at Fisht Olympic Stadium at 18:00 CET. The competitions will begin on Saturday, March 8.
The Paralympic Games 16 will end with a closing ceremony to be held after Sunday's competitions.
In addition to the 40-seat Fisht Olympic Stadium, where opening and closing ceremonies will be held, ice hockey matches will be held in the 7-person Shayba Arena, and the curling competitions in the 3-person Ice Cube Curling Center.
The Laura Biathlon Ski Complex, Rosa Khutor Ski Resort and Rosa Khutor Extreme Park will be home to ski competitions.
Germany, who completed the tournament in Vancouver four years ago with 13 gold medals, participates in the games in Sochi with 13 athletes. participating in the Paralympic Winter Games for the first time Turkey will be represented by two athletes.
Call for boycott
The games were overshadowed by the crisis in the Crimean Peninsula. France after the Paralympic Games in Germany, the government will not be sent to the opening of the government announced. The statement was made by foreign minister Laurent Fabius.
Verena Bentele, the German government responsible for the disabled, who decided to not send a government representative to the Winter Games in Germany, who canceled his travel, noted that the government's failure to send a representative to the Sochi Winter Paralympic Games was "an open political signal to Russia".
Many Western countries who criticized Russia's policy on the Crimean Peninsula had called for a boycott of the Paralympic Games. The USA, the UK and the Netherlands will not send official delegations to the games. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the opening ceremony in Sochi.
Ukraine attends the Games
Despite the Crimean crisis, the Ukrainian team will also take part in the Paralympic Games in Sochi. "Hopefully, the hope of democracy, human rights and peace will be listened to," said the President of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine, Valeri Suskevic, announcing the decision with his statement in Sochi, hours before the opening ceremony. Due to the disagreement between Russia and Ukraine, the Ukrainian delegation has been threatening to withdraw its athletes from the games for days. Suskevic also said that if the war begins, they would immediately withdraw the Ukrainian team from Sochi.