Monaco, Dec 9 (IANS): World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field, on Friday confirmed members of an internal Working Group to decide on the participation of Russians and Belarussian athletes in international competitions and events.

The members of the Working Group, which include Francis Dadoo, the char of the Group, Beatrice Ayikoru, Arina Riccardi, Ami Baran and Lea Sprunger, were decided by the World Athletics Council Meeting in Monaco on Friday.

The Working Group’s role is to advise and recommend to the World Athletics Council whether the sanctions on Russia and Belarus are sufficient or if they should be replaced, added, or varied with other sanctions to be imposed under Article 13 of the World Athletics Constitution.

The Group will consider the conditions and criteria that would need to be in place to permit at some point in the future participation of Russian and Belarussian Athletes, Athlete Support Personnel, Member Federation Officials and other Officials to participate and/or attend World Athletics Series Events or the Olympic Games.

All decisions relating to recommendations from the Working Group still lie with the Council. Both the Russian Athletics Federation and Belarus Athletic Federation have been informed of the role of the Working Group and its members.

The Council received a detailed update about progress made in relation to safeguarding. This included plans to update the World Athletics Safeguarding Policy, the safeguarding materials World Athletics will be producing for Area Associations to use, safeguarding plans for World Athletics Series events and the rollout of the World Athletics Safeguarding Essentials course. The Council also approved the appointment of Jean Gracia to the Safeguarding Taskforce in place of Karin Grute-Movin. In addition, they agreed to the addition of two members of the Athletes’ Commission to the task force.

The Council took important decisions regarding World Athletics’ World Plan, working groups and competition rules during its 233rd meeting in Monaco.

The World Athletics Council approved the establishment of a World Plan Implementation Taskforce to build on the milestones already achieved in the World Plan for Athletics 2022-2030 and continue to promote and build on this momentum throughout the plan.