This year, on March 6, the Winter Paralympic Games will open in Verona, Italy.
Medianews.az reports that the Canadian Paralympic team will not attend the opening ceremony. This was announced by the Canadian Paralympic Committee.
The committee stated that the decision to boycott the ceremony was made because of the Russian and Belarusian teams.
Since Russia started a full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, Russia and its closest ally Belarus were excluded from the Paralympic Games.
In 2025, the International Paralympic Committee reinstated the membership of Russia and Belarus and agreed that these countries' teams would participate with their anthems and national symbols in the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games.
In protest of this, the Ukrainian and Czech teams decided to boycott the opening ceremony in Verona.
With Canada joining the process, the number of countries boycotting the opening of the Winter Paralympic Games has reached three.
Medina Jalilova,
Medianews.az