Two badminton athletes with Russian passports, Rodion Alimov and Maksim Ogloblin, have been cleared to enter BWF-sanctioned tournaments as Individual Neutral Athletes.
This follows an announcement on 29 August 2023 in which BWF Council voted to approve a regulative framework to allow athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports to begin competing as neutrals, provided they respect several conditions.
This decision aligned with the principles of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the global sports movement around open participation of athletes in international competitions, as a collective step forward to promote peace and solidarity.
Participation Regulations were subsequently created to guide this process, and a player Eligibility Panel was formed to conduct due diligence and to scrutinise all conditions of entry.
On 12 May 2025, the player Eligibility Panel approved the participation of said athletes, Alimov and Ogloblin.
Following a thorough due diligence process, the panel concluded that the two players had not engaged in any action that was inconsistent with the BWF’s and the Olympic Movement’s peace mission.
These two players are now subject to BWF and WADA’s robust anti-doping requirements and testing framework and should be eligible to enter tournaments with a starting date of 11 August 2025. This means that these players can enter tournaments with an entry deadline of 15 July 2025.
The players will enter tournaments directly through BWF.
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