The OCA General Assembly voted today to allow up to 500 athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at this year's Asian Games in Hangzhou ©OCA

Up to 500 athletes from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete at this year's re-arranged Asian Games in Hangzhou to help them qualify for next year's Olympics in Paris.

It will be up to the governing bodies of each of the 31 sports on the programme for Paris 2024 to decide whether they allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in the event after the vote at the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) General Assembly in Bangkok. 

Russian and Belarussian athletes will not be eligible for medals.

The athletes will compete at the Games, due to take place between September 23 and October 8, under a neutral flag and no national symbols will be permitted.

The prospect of Russian and Belarussian athletes competing at the Asian Games, taking place this year after being postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, first emerged in December after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) revealed that it wanted them to be allowed to compete at Paris 2024.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus had been largely banned from international competition since March 2022 following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Today marks the 500th day of the attack on Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

A decision by the OCA to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at this year's Asian Games coincided with 500 days since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine ©Getty Images
A decision by the OCA to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at this year's Asian Games coincided with 500 days since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine ©Getty Images

In March, the OCA Athletes' Forum backed the plan to let Russian and Belarussian athletes compete but demanded "fairness" for Asian athletes in "any qualification pathway".

The decision to exclude the guest competitors from winning medals will have satisfied part of that criteria but clarity will be needed on whether quota places for Paris 2024 due to be awarded at Hangzhou 2022 won by Russian and Belarussians will be at the expense of Asian athletes.

In January, the OCA's Acting President Randhir Singh had promised, "They won’t interfere in our medal system or Asian quota for the Olympic Games."

Singh also suggested that it was unlikely that athletes from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to take part in combat sports and would be confined to events like athletics, shooting and swimming.

Singh was replaced today by a new permanent President, Kuwait's Sheikh Talal Fahad Al Ahmad Al Sabah, who made no reference to the topic in his closing speech of the General Assembly at the Convention Centre at Centralworld.

The OCA have so far provided no other details.

The OCA have so far released no details about whether quota places available for Asian athletes will be affected by the participation of Russia and Belarus at Hangzhou 2022 ©Twitter
The OCA have so far released no details about whether quota places available for Asian athletes will be affected by the participation of Russia and Belarus at Hangzhou 2022 ©Twitter

All-Russian Swimming Federation President Vladimir Salnikov claimed they would need to find out more details before they made a decision about competing at Hangzhou 2022 and hoped to discuss it at the end of this month. 

"On the one hand, it will be interesting to perform at the Asian Games, but first you need to find out what conditions will need to be met, and the decision will depend on this," Salnikov told Russia's official state news agency TASS.

"We will discuss this issue if clear wording is received by then."