The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) voted at its General Assembly in Bangkok on Saturday (July 8) to allow up to 500 competitors from Russia and Belarus compete at Hangzhou 2022 to help them qualify for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Athletes from the two countries were banned from competing at the European Games in Kraków and Małopolska and have been largely missing from international competition since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

But International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach is pushing for them to be given the opportunity to take part at Paris 2024 and the OCA have offered to help.

The idea was first proposed last December and Pozdnyakov remains pessimistic that anything will come of the proposal.

"The statement of the OCA representative on the admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes to the Asian Games is reminiscent of the March recommendations of the IOC, following which many practical decisions were not made even after several months," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

"At the moment, the Russian Olympic Committee has not received any invitations to participate in the Asian Games, and without this it makes no sense to consider and discuss any hypothetical options.

"There is very little time left before the start of these competitions, and in any case, questions arise regarding the prospects for the full preparation of athletes to achieve the desired result.

"Not to mention all the organisational, financial, logistical and other conditions of such a trip.

"Over the past few months, we have heard a lot of speculation about the admission of Russians and Belarusians to certain international tournaments. 

"In the vast majority of cases, words remain words.

"Given the lack of necessary specifics, we treat today's statement accordingly."

There was no opposition to the proposal during the OCA General Assembly, but several sports in Hong Kong have since voiced concerns over the plan because of fears it could deprive Asian athletes the opportunity to qualify for Paris 2024, even though Russians and Belarussians will not be eligible for medals.

Abraham Cheng Kwok-hung, chief executive of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, demanded to know more information about the plan to let them compete at Hangzhou 2022, which was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has now been re-scheduled for September 23 until October 8. 

"In events like fencing, which is in a knockout format, if our athletes were drawn against a Russia player and lost, they would be out of the competition," he told the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

"Compare that to another athlete who only draws against Asian players, we don’t think this is fair.

"There needs to be more details before we find out how to deal with it."

Wong Po-kee, chairman of The Judo Association of Hong Kong, was more vocal in his objections, and claimed there was "no way" athletes from the two countries should "come to the Asian Games to compete with Asian athletes."

Wong feared the presence of Russia, one of the most successful countries in Olympic judo history, could damage the chances of Asia’s leading hopes qualifying for Paris 2024.

"If our athletes draw against judokas from the two European countries who are one of world major powerhouses in our sport, they have little chance to survive and the overall result will be severely affected, with their Olympic qualifying hopes also being affected," he told the SCMP.

But there was some backing for the proposal from the Hong Kong China Swimming Association President Ronnie Wong Man-chiu.

"We always want to maintain sports free of politics as stated by the Olympic Charters," Wong told the SCMP.

"In fact, we have had swimmers from Australia and New Zealand join our regional competitions before and this is not without precedents.

"Swimmers are against the clock in terms of results and if they want to use the Asian Games as a platform for Olympic qualification, they are welcome."