The Russian Sports Ministry has handed control of blind sports to the All-Russian Federation of Sports for the Blind ©Getty Images

The Russian Sports Ministry has handed over responsibility for blind sports to the All-Russian Federation of Sports for the Blind organisation.

The body is relatively new, having been founded in April last year.

It was established by triple Paralympic pentathlon and sprinting champion Olga Semenova, four-time Paralympic gold medal-winning swimmer Sergei Punko, and marathon champion from Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Ildar Pomykalov, among others.

"On December 28, a meeting of the commission of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation on state accreditation of public organisations was held to give them the status of an all-Russian sports federation and to endow an all-Russian public physical culture and sports organisation with the rights and obligations of an all-Russian sports federation," Semenova said, as reported by Russia's official state news agency TASS.

"Based on the results of the meeting, the commission decided to suspend accreditation from the Federation of Sports for the Blind, headed by Lidia Pavlovna Abramova.

"The Ministry of Sports has endowed our federation with the rights and responsibilities for the development of sports for the blind."

Semenova is determined to stop the decline of Russia's Paralympic results in visually impaired categories, with the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) only winning two golds at Tokyo 2020 in the disciplines.

Russian Paralympic Committee President Pavel Rozhkov has commended the decision while criticising the leadership of Lidia Pavlovna Abramova ©Getty Images
Russian Paralympic Committee President Pavel Rozhkov has commended the decision while criticising the leadership of Lidia Pavlovna Abramova ©Getty Images

RPC President Pavel Rozhkov has spoken in favour of the decision.

"The Russian Paralympic Committee welcomes the decision of the Ministry of Sports to grant the rights and responsibilities for the development of sports for the blind to the All-Russian Federation of Sports for the Blind, founded by the champions and prize-winners of the Paralympic Games," he said, as reported by TASS.

Rozhkov also criticised Abramova for her handling of the previous governing body in charge of blind sports.

"Unfortunately, the work of the Federation for the Sports of the Blind, headed by Lidia Abramova, led to a serious decline in performance at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, and unsatisfactorily organised training camps on the eve of the Games in Beijing," Rozhkov said.

"Inside the federation, two reporting and election conferences were held at the same time, which elected different Presidents of organisations.

"Currently, there are endless litigation between the elected Presidents which negatively affects the activities of the organisation."