Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the Winter Paralympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday and was immediately confronted by an emotional Ukrainian protest on a politically charged night.
As athletes from 45 countries took part in the opening ceremony, only one Ukrainian competitor appeared in a symbolic, scaled-down presence of the country that has denounced Russia’s intervention in Crimea.
Spectators gave huge cheers and some even stood to applaud 37-year-old skier and biathlete Mykhailo Tkachenko, who came through the Fisht Stadium in his wheelchair.
Photo: AFP
Without a trace of a smile, Tkachenko proudly carried his country’s national flag for his 31-strong team who did not enter the stadium with him.
Ukraine had earlier said it would refrain from any political protests during the ceremony and Paralympic committee head Valery Sushkevich said he even had to dissuade a teenage athlete from expressing her anger at Russia.
Ukraine had also decided that they would not boycott the Games, which run until Sunday.
Some Western countries, including the US, Britain and Germany, have not sent government delegations in protest at Russia’s Crimea intervention.
In what appeared as a taunt toward the US, organizers played a popular 1990s Russian song called Good-bye, America when the Russian team closed the parade.
Putin had said that he hoped the Paralympic spirit will help “cool the tensions” surrounding Russia’s policy on Ukraine, which has already caused the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.
Sushkevich told journalists that he personally appealed to Putin for peace, but did not receive any assurances.
“I don’t remember a situation in the history of the Paralympic movement when the host country began an intervention into a participating country,” he said.
“We hope there will be steps for de-escalation, for lessening the threat of war,” he added.
Holding back tears, Paralympic skier Grygoriy Vovchinsky said his team “is from all over Ukraine” and “speaks both Russian and Ukrainian.”
“We are here, we represent a young country and we are ready to fight, to show that we are a strong nation, an independent nation. We love life, we love sport and we love a fair fight,” Vovchinsky said.
The Paralympics in Russia are a major symbolic step for a country that for decades stigmatized people with disabilities.
“A new history of Russia is beginning, a history without barriers and stereotypes,” Sochi Organizing Committee head Dmitry Chernyshenko said.
One month after Russia mounted a dazzling Winter Olympics opening, Friday’s Paralympics curtainraiser featured classical ballet numbers and also included a monumental icebreaker that drifted across the stage to the sound of crushing ice.
Notable Russian Paralympians participated in the final relay to light the cauldron, including swimmer Olesya Vladykina and skier Sergei Shilov, who lit it with the final torch to booming fireworks.
International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven, who was joined at the ceremony by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, praised organizers for transforming Sochi “to make it accessible for everyone” and building “perfect” venues.
A total of 45 countries and 575 athletes are to compete in Sochi in five Paralympic sports, including alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, wheelchair curling and sledge ice hockey.
For the first time, alpine skiing will include snowboarding as a discipline.
Soviet Russia did not participate in the Paralympic movement until the 1988 Games in Seoul, at the onset of perestroika, and people with disabilities often remained invisible in society, unable to exit their apartments or sometimes being sent to special homes.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set