A member of the Belarus delegation who carried a Russian flag at the Paralympic opening ceremony to support his country's near-neighbor that is banned from the competition was stripped of his accreditation, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said on Thursday.
The Belarus team carried Russia's flag as well as their own at the Paralympic Games opening ceremony, in a show of support for their near-neighbours, who were banned from the competition in Rio de Janeiro. The head of the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) Vladimir Lukin told the TASS news agency that he was grateful for the gesture at the ceremony on Wednesday night.