The crisis began last year, when International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) President Valery Rukhledev was arrested and placed under house arrest for two months in his home country of Russia.

He had been charged under the Russian Criminal Code and accused of embezzling more than RUB50 million (£604,000/$803,800/€690,000) from the All-Russian Society of the Deaf in Moscow.

An ICSD statement following a Board meeting in July, chaired by acting President Kang Chen, said that Rukhledev took the "serious decision to retire with immediate effect" after "five years of faithful duty".

A unanimous Board decision then confirmed Rebecca Adam as the new ICSD President from August 1 2018 until the next ICSD Congress scheduled for 2021.

It prompted a fierce reaction, with calls intensifying for an Extraordinary Congress as soon as possible.

Forty-six countries claimed it was an "unacceptable coup" by the organisation's Board.

Despite this, Adams remains as President and the preparations for the Winter Deaflympics stayed on track. 

Six sports are due to be contested, with curling, ice hockey, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding remaining on the programme from 2015. 

Chess has been added, pushing the total number of events up from 32 to 35. 

Action has been taking place for the past two days, but competition officially starts tomorrow, with an Opening Ceremony scheduled. 

It will then run until December 21, when a Closing Ceremony will end proceedings. 

Russia topped the medal table at the 2015 event in Khanty-Mansiysk with 12 gold medals, six silver and 12 bronze. 

Czech Republic were second with six gold and one silver, while the United States finished with three gold medals, three silver and two bronze.