Russia is not waiting to find out what the IOC, and with it the entire Olympic movement, will do to it. It is working hard to give its athletes the opportunity to return to the international stage. Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin (pictured above with Vladimir Putin) proposed on Wednesday 15 March to host a new multi-sport event that would bring together the nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), including India and China. The idea of this international event was first suggested last September by Vladimir Putin. It is now making great strides, with the proposal formulated by Oleg Matytsin during a meeting in India with sports officials from other SCO member countries. This organisation, created in 2001 on the initiative of Moscow and Beijing, currently comprises eight countries, including India, Pakistan and four Central Asian nations from the former Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). In his statement, the Russian Sports Minister did not specify where and when the first edition of the SCO Games would be held, except that it would be organised in Russia.
