Eight athletes stopped from competing in Winter Asiad

Eight athletes will not be able to compete at the 6th Asian Winter Games due to accreditation eligibility issue, a senior official of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) revealed on Monday.

Wei Jizhong, chairman of Sports Commission of OCA, told Xinhua that seven figure skating athletes and one speed skater from Kuwait, Malaysia, Turkmenistan and Macao, China are not eligible to compete in the 6th Asian Winter Games.

According to the rules of the International Skating Union (ISU), only the athletes from ISU member associations are eligible to take part in ISU authorised competitions.

Kuwait, Malaysia, Turkmenistan and Macao, China have not joined the ISU.

"After talks with all sides, we decided that the figure skating athletes will give their performance in the Asiad but their results will not be included in the rankings."

The speed skater from Turkmenistan will be allowed to do his training together with the other skaters, Wei said.

Source:Xinhua