Ukraine’s 20 Paralympic athletes have yet to arrive in China

By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer

None of the 20 athletes from the Ukrainian Paralympics team has reached Beijing with the Games opening at the end of the week. International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence says he’s hopeful the athletes would arrive in China for Friday’s opening ceremony despite difficult logistics. He declined to disclose the team’s whereabouts, citing safety reasons and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said there were no flights out of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. In addition, flights entering China for the Paralympics — as well as for the just-closed Olympics — can originate only from a few designated hub airports.