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Russians shocked over ban call
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Russian sports officials yesterday spoke out against a World Anti-Doping Agency committee鈥檚 recommendations that the country be banned from all sports for four years, saying this was overly harsh and would hurt sport there.
The recommendations, published on Monday, mean Russia could miss out on the next two Olympic Games and world championships in a wide range of sports.
WADA鈥檚 independent Compliance Review Committee recommended the ban after Moscow provided WADA with laboratory data that was found to have been doctored.
鈥淚t鈥檚 sad. I can only call these recommendations unfair,鈥 Umar Kremlev, head of Russia鈥檚 boxing federation, said in a statement. 鈥淩ussia plays an important role in the development of global sport. How can such a country be banned?鈥
The committee鈥檚 recommendations will be put to the agency鈥檚 executive committee in Paris on December 9.
For Dmitry Svishchev, president of Russia鈥檚 curling federation, the country has already sufficiently been punished for its doping scandals.
鈥淭hese recommendations are harsh, baseless punishment for old problems for which Russia has already been punished,鈥 he said.
鈥淩ussia has made great progress in fighting doping. To punish the next generation in such a harsh manner is too much.鈥
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov linked the recommendations to what he called broader attempts by Western countries to reprimand Russia.
鈥淭he more these types of decisions are made, the better it is... for their anti-Russian argument,鈥 he said.
Russia was banned by the International Olympic Committee from last year鈥檚 Pyeongchang Winter Games as punishment for alleged state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
But some Russian athletes with no history of doping were cleared to compete as neutrals.
Under the latest recommendations, some Russians without a history of doping could be cleared to compete in major international events as neutrals, as was the case in Pyeongchang.
The IOC said in a statement it welcomed the opportunity for clean Russian athletes to compete, saying WADA did not indicate 鈥渁ny wrongdoing by the sports movement in this regard, in particular the Russian Olympic Committee or its members.鈥
The committee also recommended barring Russia from hosting major sporting events for four years, and moving major events for which Russia has already won hosting rights elsewhere 鈥渦nless it is legally or practically impossible to do so.鈥
Russia is currently set to host the 2023 men鈥檚 world ice hockey championships.
St Petersburg is due to host four matches in the 2020 European Championships and was selected to host the Champions League final in 2021. These fixtures may not be affected by a new WADA ban as European football鈥檚 organizing body UEFA is not on its list of signatories.
鈥淕iven that UEFA is not a WADA signatory and Russian soccer players have not been caught doping, I am 99.9 percent certain that nothing will happen with the Euro next year,鈥 parliamentarian Igor Lebedev, a former member of the Russian Football Union鈥檚 executive committee, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin in St Petersburg today.
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