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CAS upholds Russia’s Paralympics ban
GENEVA: A ban on Russian athletes competing in the Rio Paralympics was upheld on Tuesday, triggering anger in Moscow after the country lost an appeal against their
GENEVA: A ban on Russian athletes competing in the Rio Paralympics was upheld on Tuesday, triggering anger in Moscow after the country lost an appeal against their exclusion over a vast, state-run doping programme. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed an appeal filed by the Russian Paralympic Committee, which sought to overturn the August 7 ban by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev denounced the doping charges as a ‘thick and very nasty cocktail’ and said the Paralympic ban constituted a ‘cynical’ attempt by rivals to remove strong competitors from the Games. The IPC took the tough action after the release of a bombshell report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), detailing drug-cheating directed by government officials and affecting dozens of sports.
CAS said Russia in its appeal “did not file any evidence contradicting the facts on which the IPC decision was based.”
WADA ORDERED SAMPLE DESTRUCTION: RUSSIA
MOSCOW: Russia’s powerful Investigative Committee on Tuesday suggested the World Anti-Doping Agency could have ordered the destruction of test samples at Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory as the country tries to deflect blame over a string of doping scandals.
A bombshell report by a WADA independent commission published in November said Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory, had admitted to “intentionally destroying” 1,417 test samples ahead of an audit.
Rodchenkov, who has fled to the United States, earlier this year revealed details of a complex system to evade antidoping controls used at the 2014 Sochi Olympics with the close involvement of the Russian sports ministry and the FSB security service.
‘REJECTION OF RUSSIA’S APPEAL POLITICAL’
MOSCOW: Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko on Tuesday slammed the rejection of Russia’s appeal against a ban on its Paralympians from Rio over evidence of state-run doping as “political.”
“The decision is not in the legal domain,” TASS news agency quoted Mutko as saying of the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s ruling. “It is more political than legal. There was no reason for rejection but it happened.”
“The bodies that are meant to protect Paralympians don’t protect them but punish them instead,” Mutko said.
