By Karolos Grohmann PARIS (Reuters) -Russian teams, including the country's powerful national ice hockey side, remain banned from competing at next year's Milano-Cortina winter Olympics as part of sanctions imposed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022,

The IOC has extended its ruling from March 2023, barring Russian teams from competing in the Winter Olympics in Italy next year, with individual Russian athletes able to compete in neutral teams.

As leaders seek to “build on” Paris Games position, team sports athletes, including hockey star Alex Ovechkin, will not be allowed to participate.