Russia could face another WADA ban

A NEW WADA BAN COULD PUT PRESSURE ON THE INTERNATIONAL

OLYMPIC COMMITTEE TO EXCLUDE RUSSIA FROM THE TOKYO GAMES

TOKYO: Russia is once again in danger of being banned from next year’s Olympics after the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) revealed that historical data supplied by the country’s anti-doping authority contained “inconsistencies”. WADA said on Monday it had opened compliance proceedings against the Russian Anti-doping Agency (RUSADA) after examining the vast bank of historical testing data finally handed over in January.

The news means RUSADA is in danger of being declared noncompliant by WADA a year after a suspension was lifted, which could put increased pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to exclude Russia from the Tokyo Games next year for failing to ensure that its athletes are clean.

Russia will already miss the World Athletics Championships for the second time in a row after the sport’s governing body IAAF extended the ban against the country’s federation RUSAF on Monday. The IAAF confirmed the decision four days before the start of the competition in Qatar after hearing a report from its Task Force (TF) overseeing Russia’s reinstatement efforts.

“We are aware of the allegations of manipulation of the data and that an investigation is ongoing,” said Rune Andersen, head of the IAAF Task Force.

“In the light of that the task force recommended that RUSAF not be reinstated and the IAAF council unanimously agreed.”

The WADA Executive Committee received a report from its Compliance Review Committee on Monday updating it on the analysis of data from the Moscow laboratory which contained the results of thousands of antidoping tests undergone by Russian sportsmen and women.

“The Exco was informed that further investigation... of inconsistencies in Moscow Laboratory data had led WADA to open a formal compliance procedure against RUSADA on 17 September 2019,” WADA said.

Jonathan Taylor, chair of WADA’S Compliance Review Committee, presented the information to the executive committee in Tokyo on Monday.