Russian athletes who won gold medals at the country’s competition which was held after their ban from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will be awarded prize money of more than $61,800 according to information posted on the official website of the Russian Government.
Silver medalists will be awarded $38,650 while bronze medalists will receive $26,280, TASS reports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that the participants of the alternative version of the Games would receive the same prize money as they would have at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.
The IPC introduced a blanket ban for Russia in the wake of Richard McLaren’s damning report, which alleged the presence of a state-sponsored doping scheme at a number of major events, including the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi.
Several appeals to get the ban overturned, including to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federal Court, failed.
It led to Russia setting up their own Games, with Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko criticising the IPC at the Opening Ceremony in Moscow earlier this month.
A total of 263 athletes across 18 sports took part in the tournament, which was held on September 8 and 9.
IPC President Sir Philip Craven described the anti-doping system in Russia as “broken, corrupted and entirely compromised”, while accusing the Russian Government of “catastrophically failing” its Para-athletes.
The IPC’s position contrasted starkly with that taken by the International Olympic Committee, who opted to defer the decision over the extent of participation of Russian athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympics to the International Federations.
On Monday, Putin again blasted the decision of the IPC to ban his country from the Rio 2016 Paralympics, while his spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed it is illegal.
Putin was speaking during a meeting with the Russian Paralympic team at the Kremlin in Moscow, a day after the Rio 2016 Games concluded.
By Daniel Etchells
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz