IOC clears around 270 Russian athletes

RIO DE JANEIRO: Olympic officials on Thursday cleared about 270 Russian athletes to compete at the Rio Olympics, just one day before the opening ceremony, the TASS

RIO DE JANEIRO: Olympic officials on Thursday cleared about 270 Russian athletes to compete at the Rio Olympics, just one day before the opening ceremony, the TASS news agency reported, citing the head of the Russian Olympic Committee.

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Russian boxers, tennis players, judokas and shooters were among those given the last-minute approval by an International Olympic Committee (IOC) panel set up to review the eligibility of all Russian athletes previously cleared to compete by their international federations.

“We have received documents on the admission of about 270 sportspeople, now we need to do the updated counting,” TASS cited Alexander Zhukov, the head of the Russian committee, as saying. That is about 70 percent of the 387 athletes Russia initially planned to send to the games.

Russia, which narrowly avoided a complete ban from the Olympics following revelations of state-backed doping, had hoped to have between 272 and 280 athletes declared eligible for Rio after the IOC review.

The International Boxing Association said all 11 Russian boxers who qualified for the Games had been given the all clear. They will be joined by eight Russian tennis players, 18 shooters, 11 judokas and Russian golfer Maria Verchenova, the sports’ international federations said.

Russian news agency R-Sport reported that 29 Russian swimmers and canoeing world champion Andrey Kraitor would also be allowed to compete.